Musical Resonance
by ashardoffreedom
Summary: AU. At Konoha Band Camp, there's drama, friendship and tears, as the group deals with the pressures of their own problems while trying to fight for their award-winning title once more. After everything is said and done, Konoha Marching Band will never be the same. Multiple pairings. GaaHina, SakuSai, NaruSasu, ShikaTema, KibaIno. Warnings: slight language.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello, peoples! I'm ashardoffreedom, and I must say that it's been a while. This is the first chapter of my new story, Musical Resonance. It's a lot longer than my previous stories, let me tell you that. Before any of you ask, I just want to tell you that I update weekly, give or take a day or two. Also, I want to let everyone know that yes, I am in band. I know how the actual band camp thing works. I've been in band for three years, and it's not as easy as it looks. It may be different for other marching bands, but I'm basing this off of my own personal experiences, so yes, I do know what I'm talking about. I'm going to be using band lingo in this story, but I'll have a glossary at the end of each chapter for words and phrases that you might not know. If there's something you just don't understand, just tell me, and I'll adress it in the next chapter. **

**Important Note: I use the terms "rookie" and "veteran" in this fic. If you know what they are, good for you. If not, "rookie" means a member who has never done marching band before. A rookie is a first year band member. It's not just freshman. Anyone who hasn't done marching band before is considered a rookie. A "veteran" is a person who has been in marching band for more than one year. Any returning member to the marching band is considered a veteran. I just wanted to let you guys know. **

**For everyone who just skipped over this author's note, SHAME ON YOU! You will be very confused, and I feel no pity. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I'm quite sure I would be rich and famous by now. **

* * *

Chapter One

Welcome to Band Camp, Your Home Away From Home

Konoha High Marching Band Information Form

Name: _Hinata Hyuuga_

Grade: _Junior _

Age: _16 _

Occupation: _Student / Part-time worker at Subway _

Instrument: _Clarinet_

Joined Band: _Freshman Year_

Years of Experience: _3 years, since freshman year _

Hobbies: _Martial arts, reading, playing my clarinet, listening to music, hanging out with my friends _

Favorite Color: _Lavender _

Favorite Food: _Is Iced Tea a food? _

Favorite TV show: _I don't really watch TV. But my favorite movie is The Notebook, among many others. _

Why You Joined Marching Band: _to build confidence and make new friends_

* * *

Hinata got out of her car with a spring in her step. Sure, it was a beat-up pickup truck with more paint on the seats than the actual car, but there was something about having her license and driving on her own that gave her a sense of fulfillment. And whiplash, because of the sudden breaking maneuvers. Or, as Sakura liked to call them, "slightly mid-air, logic-defying, how-the-hell-does-a-car-move-like-that, sudden stoppages."

Hinata closed the door and opened the one to the back seat, twirling her keys in her hand. She made a mental checklist of all the things that she had in the backseat, knowing that if she was missing something, she would have to book it back to her house, praying that she would get back in time for evening practice. Asuma-sensei wasn't known to go easy on late-comers.

She made sure that she had her suitcase, her cooler, her bedding, her food (lots and lots of food), and generally everything that she would need for the two weeks of hell—wait, band camp. She had double and triple checked everything before she had left her apartment, but there was nothing wrong with checking again. And again.

"Hinata!"

Hinata turned to find herself face to face with two guard girls, one distinctly older than the other. The older one had short pink hair tied back into a high ponytail and sparkling green eyes. Her clothes were plain, just two camies and some short shorts. Hinata could see the neon pink and blue of her two sports bars, making sure than nothing showed on top. She already had her fingerless guard gloves on, and Hinata had a distinct feeling that she had been practicing with her saber. She dressed conservatively, no decorative laces or frills or jewelry, but everyone had to. Those things would simply get in your way.

The younger one was standing there a bit awkwardly, like she didn't know what to do with herself. It was an odd trait for a guard girl to have, considering that they had to be confident and strong the entire time. She was obviously a rookie. She didn't carry herself with the same poise as the other one. Her brown hair was tied up into a single bun, and she wore nearly the exact same clothes as Sakura, except in different colors. Practical tennis shoes were on her feet. Her warm brown eyes sparkled merrily, but cautiously.

Hinata turned and smiled at them. "Sakura, Tenten! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, a full three days, since the last band practice. I swear, sometimes I think that the staff plan it so that we never get a break."

Tenten was hesitant in her smile. "Yeah, I bet they do."

Hinata smiled warmly at Tenten, knowing that she was uncomfortable. It was Hinata's third year in marching band, and she could tell when a rookie was feeling awkward. She had met Tenten a while back, during one of their first practices. Hinata wasn't nearly as shy as she had been when she had first joined marching band, but she could still sense a common soul.

"So, Sakura, Tenten, how's guard?"

Tenten smiled while Sakura grimaced. Tenten's smile was wiped off her face as soon as she saw Sakura's face. Sakura sighed.

"I mean, it's not like I don't love guard or anything. Guard's like my life. I want to join a drum corps as soon as I get out of high school, for crying out loud. But I just got the news—I'm section leader this year for both the weapon and flag lines."

Hinata squealed. "Oh my god! That's great news! I knew that you wanted to be section leader!"

Sakura groaned. "If only it was that easy. Remember, I'm only a junior. I may be the best weapon, but I'm still just a junior."

"What does that have to do with any—" Hinata's eyes widened. "Oh. Ino."

"Exactly. This is Ino's senior year, and I just stole section leader from her. We've always had that bad rivalry, and this isn't going to help anything. If anything, she'll be trying to prove that she was clearly meant to be more of a section leader than me, and it's just going to be drama. Drama, drama and more drama."

Hinata sighed. For her three years of marching band, she had mainly figured out how to avoid being in the middle of the drama. However, that didn't mean that she was immune to it. After all, everyone loves good gossip. Because of Sakura, Hinata felt like she was rather well-informed about all of the band drama. Hinata personally feared that she would one day become a part of it. That would be the day that she died.

Tenten placed a comforting hand on Sakura's shoulder as she continued to rant. Hinata smiled serenely and looked out across the campsite. There was a parking lot that they were standing in and the road that cut through it horizontally. Across from the parking lot, she could see the back of the cabins. Hinata had been to the camp before. Konoha High had band camp there every single year. There were horror stories of the time that they had gone to a different camp, but Hinata hadn't been in band back then.

Hinata knew that there would be six cabins and three lodges in a circle around some picnic tables and trees. One of the lodges was for the band staff, and the other two were for the girls, along with one of the cabins. The other five cabins, which each held ten people, would be used for the guys. Each lodge held twenty four people, but there were always fewer girls than guys in band. The girls just needed more space.

Hinata held up a hand for Sakura to stop ranting. Hinata wasn't sure why, but every time that she did such a motion, people would automatically stop talking and look at her, as if they were waiting for orders. She didn't understand why they reacted like that.

"Relax, Sakura. It'll all work out. How 'bout we move my stuff over to our cabin and you tell me all out it?" Hinata raised an eyebrow with her last statement.

Sakura chuckled while grabbing Hinata's bedding and cooler. Tenten grabbed the two extra bags that she had in addition to her luggage. Hinata grabbed her actual suitcase, her water jug and her baby. Her "baby" would be the clarinet that she had marched with since freshman year. Hinata may have been shy, but _no one _touched her baby without her permission. And Hinata knew martial arts.

Hinata made sure to lock her car before leaving. She trusted most of the band kids not to steal her car while she was gone, but she knew that they wouldn't hesitate to prank her. Pranks were common, but it was the worst on the last night of band camp, when all the seniors got to go out as late as they wanted to and prank all of the other kids mercilessly. Senior Prank Night was a horror to behold. Last year they stuck five hundred live crickets into all the boy's cabins. The camp was not happy with them when they left.

Somehow, while she had been thinking, Sakura and Tenten had gotten onto one of their favorite topics—boys.

"I don't know, Sakura," Tenten said. "I mean, I'm only a sophomore and this is just my first year. I don't really think that I want a boyfriend. Besides the point, I don't even know most of the boys in this camp."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That doesn't matter. Band camp is known as the 'dating season' to all the veterans. Everyone gets together during band camp. Of course, October is known as the breakup season. That's when over seventy-five percent of the couples that have gotten together over band camp break up. So yes, you may not know anyone, but you're getting a boyfriend."

Hinata rolled her eyes behind the two of them. She was just lucky that she wasn't on Sakura's list. Sakura had been trying to get her a boyfriend since freshman year, but Hinata never played part. It was hard enough balancing her life without the added constraints of a relationship. If the right one came along, so be it. If not, she could deal until she got out of Kentucky and into the real world.

"Sakura, I need to focus on guard. I'm not doing any more pushups than I already have to," Tenten said.

Sakura sighed. "That's what everyone says. But I've still been focused on guard even though I've had a boyfriend every band camp."

"And a breakup every October," Hinata said behind them.

Sakura would have crossed her arms if she hadn't been carrying all of Hinata's stuff. "There's nothing wrong with that. They just weren't right."

"But you don't deny it," Hinata said. "Face it, Sakura, you don't really want a relationship. You're too focused on getting into med school and being the best weapon that you can be. A guy would simply hold you back."

"Well, that is true. . ." she trailed off before she could embarrass herself further.

For a while, they just walked through the camp in silence. Hinata looked around while rolling her suitcase haphazardly through the gravel roads. Other band kids walked around the camp, laughing with their friends and moving their luggage. Hinata saw Kiba, the senior that was supposed to be the section leader of the clarinets, but everyone knew that Hinata did all the technical work and never complained. She watched Shikamaru, the front ensemble section leader, talking to Chouji, a baritone player, under the shade of one of the trees that surrounded the camp. She saw Naruto, the tuba section leader, playing around with Akamaru, Kiba's dog, while talking with Konohamaru, the rookie tuba player who had just joined his section. Ino was struggling to pull her neon orange suitcase into the senior cabin with help from the rest of her friends. Sakura and Ino may have had their rivalry and dislike for each other, but everyone knew that both Ino and Sakura were nice girls, if a little bit talkative.

Before Hinata disappeared into the glory of her air-conditioned cabin, she caught a glimpse of the dark haired enigma that was Sasuke Uchiha. Everyone knew who he was. He was the cold hearted bastard who led the battery. He was more than simply attractive. He was considered to be a god by most of the girls in and out of band. While being in band made you a nerd, being in battery made you cool. That was how it was in Konoha High. Just being in the same section as Sasuke Uchiha made you incredible.

Although none of her friends knew, she actually knew Sasuke quite well. Well, well enough to be able to call him Sas, which was his nickname around his friends, which were far and few between. Sasuke was close friends with her cousin, Neji, who was a staff member for the band. And Sasuke was fiercely loyal. So, by simply being related to Neji, Sasuke was close friends with Hinata. That was just the way that he was.

But what caught her attention more than Sasuke—she knew him well enough to no longer be dazed by his brilliance—was the guy who was with him. Hinata prided herself on knowing most everyone in the band but this face was a stranger to her. He had the reddest hair that she had ever seen, redder than blood. And Hinata knew blood. He was about as tall as Sasuke, with a stronger build. He was wearing loose, low sweat pants and a maroon t-shirt. If Hinata had been a different type of girl, she probably would have said that he looked like a sex god. But she wasn't, so she just blushed and tried to look away.

But before she could, her lavender-white eyes caught a pair of intense green ones. They were clear, harsh and distinct, but with a level of kindness hiding beneath them. He didn't smile or show any expression at all when she caught his eyes, but he did tilt his head as if she was a puzzle that he was trying to solve. When he tilted his head, his hair was pushed back to reveal a tattoo on his forehead, one that carried the kanji for love. When Hinata's eyes widened, showing that she had seen the tattoo, the man quickly covered it again with his hair, turning away from her.

"Hinata! Come on!"

Hinata immediately turned back to the cabin and began pushing her suitcase back inside. "Coming, Sakura!"

Hinata made her way into the lodge. All three of the girls were located in Casper 1, which was next to Casper 2, the staff cabin, and Sugar Pine 6, the other girl's cabin. Casper 1 was bigger than a simple cabin. It could house twenty-four girls, but the current cabin would be housing twenty-six. Sakura and Hinata were going to have to sleep on the floor, seeing as they were the last two people to come.

They were currently standing in the commons area, which was a large square room with couches. It was where Hinata and Sakura would be sleeping. Behind the room was the alcove that held the doors that lead to the bathrooms and showers. On each side of the commons area were hallways that lead to the bunks, twelve on each side. Tenten would be bunking with her friend Stella, a rookie flute player who never stopped smiling.

Tenten and Sakura dropped Hinata's luggage on one of the couches. Sakura cracked her back while Tenten sat down on the couch opposite to the one loaded with Hinata's stuff.

"Hina, it looks like you and me are going to have to steal some mattresses from the staff cabin before practice tonight," Sakura said. "I can't believe that we have to sleep in the commons area. We all know that the rookie guard girls are never going to shut up the first night."

"HEY!"

"Sorry, Ten, you know that I wasn't talking about you. But you know how the rest of the freshmen are. They are all excited to be here at band camp, unaware of how much freaking work it is."

Tenten grimaced and nodded. She had seen the freshmen guard girls too and she couldn't believe that she was in flag line with them, even if she was only a rookie too.

Hinata shrugged. "I guess that's what iPods are for."

Sakura stretched her arms above her head. "Come on, let's go steal you a mattress from the staff cabin. I've sure that Kakashi-sensei won't mind."

Kakashi-sensei was the battery tech who worked hand-in-hand with Sasuke to keep everyone in line. He had a soft spot for Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto, because they had helped him out when he had broken his ankle last year. He was a bit of a laze, but everyone respected him, and he knew how to whip the drumline into shape like nobody's business. There were however rumors that he had a relationship with Anko, the woman who ran the front ensemble . . .

Hinata smiled. "Thanks, 'Kura."

"No problem."

Hinata and Sakura headed out of the cabin while Tenten said that she was going to unpack her stuff and wait for Stella, her bunkmate. Hinata looked around, hoping to see the strange red-headed guy, or at least Sasuke, but neither of them were there. Strangely, Hinata found herself somewhat disappointed. She at least wanted to know why the guy was looking at her like that. Subconsciously, Hinata rubbed the layers of purple bracelets that were on both of her wrists. They were in all different shades of purple, from lavender to neon to a dark shade that was almost black. Anyone who knew Hinata knew that she never took them off. And she had promised to herself that she never would.

"Hey, guess what?"

"What, Sakura?"

She clapped her hands together in excitement. "It turns out that there's going to be a new guard tech this year, and he's supposedly a genius at both saber and rifle. I can't wait to meet him! He's going to be working at band camp and throughout the rest of the year. Although apparently, he didn't really want to come. Asuma-sensei had to practically bribe him in order to hire him."

Asuma-sensei was the music teacher at Konoha High and band director of the entire marching band. He was a nice, laid-back kind of guy who loved his cigarettes. Of course, he wasn't allowed to have them at school, so he made up for it by constantly smoking while he was on the band field. He was in charge of all the different staff that worked with all of the band kids. He was always recruiting alumni and others to make the band better. Apparently, this year he had grabbed a guard tech. It had been a while since they had one. The last guard tech had to quit because he found a new job in New Mexico.

"And he's going to be teaching us! I know that I need help with my rifle—after all, I always have preferred saber—so I'm so glad that he's here! I mean, Kurenai can only do so much since she's the only guard tech."

Hinata nodded. It wasn't of much interest to her, but it made Sakura happy, so she was okay with that. As long as Sakura was happy, Hinata was happy. She didn't like to see other people upset.

The two of them just walked into the staff cabin. Although it would seem rude to other people, all the band kids were simply allowed to walk into the staff cabin. The resident nurse, Tsunade, was in there, so the students were in and out constantly. If ten people didn't get a sprained ankle over the course of these two weeks, it was a bad year.

Kakashi-sensei was sitting at the table in the middle of the room, looking over some sheet music and tapping on the table to the beat. Despite being in his late twenties, he had a stock of grayish-white hair that stuck up at an odd angle. He had a headband that was slanted over his right eye and a mask over his lower face. It was well known that he had been in a car accident with his college friends that left him scarred for life. He was the only survivor. He didn't like to talk about it. Despite that pain in his past, he maintained a cheerful and upbeat personality, and was a great asset to the staff. He looked up when Hinata and Sakura came in the room.

He looked at Sakura first. "Hey, Sakura, Hinata. What do you guys need?"

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei. Hinata and I need to steal some mattresses because we have to sleep on the floor. Is that okay with you?"

He nodded. "Sure. You guys need any help?"

"Nope," Sakura said and Hinata simply shook her head. Hinata wasn't too comfortable around people that she didn't know as well, and she barely saw Kakashi because he was busy with the drumline. She had lost her stuttering problem in her freshman year, but she still stumbled slightly when she was overly nervous.

Sakura led Hinata through the staff cabins and grabbed one of the stiff blue mattresses that weren't used by the rest of the staff. Hinata grabbed her own and they wobbled back to the front door, trying not to break anything or hit anyone. Nobody wanted to take a mattress to the face.

Sakura said a boisterous goodbye to Kakashi-sensei before leaving. Hinata waved to him shyly. Kakashi simply smiled beneath his mask, which made Hinata feel a lot better.

As they walked across the grass and gravel, carrying the mattresses awkwardly, Hinata caught a glimpse of the red-haired kid again. He was definitely older than her, and he had a pair of drumsticks, beating out a complex beat against the steps that he was sitting on. When Hinata walked past him, he looked up at her. His eyes lingered on hers fiercely, but not angrily. His gaze shifted to her purple bracelets, and something in his eyes changed when he looked upon the layers and layers of beaded and leather strings. Hinata shifted uncomfortably, feeling that he knew something that she didn't want shared. Hinata glanced away quickly, but looked back over her shoulder subconsciously. She felt a bit tingly for some reason, but she pretended that it wasn't there.

The two of them laid down their mattresses and Sakura looked to Hinata while brushing back some of the pink hair that had gotten loose from her ponytail. "What was that about? That guy was totally checking you out."

Hinata blushed furiously. "Wha-what? No h-he wasn't!"

Sakura smirked victoriously. "Of course he was! Hinata, you may not realize it, but you're pretty hot."

Hinata only smiled sadly, knowing that she was lying. She was nothing compared to Sakura's gentle beauty.

"Anyway, Hinata, who was he? Do you know him?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, I don't know him at all." She rubbed the bracelets on her wrists.

"Hmm? Then why was he looking at you like that? I just don't get it. Maybe he likes you?"

"Do you know him, Sakura?"

Sakura looked like she wanted to say something, but she simply smiled. "Nope. Not at all. But I really have to unpack. You do too, right?"

Hinata nodded hesitantly, knowing that Sakura had lied but not assertive enough to call her out on it. They spent the rest of the time unpacking and talking about meaningless things, but something lingered in the back of Hinata's mind.

_What was Sakura going to say? _

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

_**Battery: **_**the battery is the part of the drumline that marches. This section usually consists of snare drums, tenor drums, and bass drums. If you don't know what those drums are, I suggest Google. **

_**Front Ensemble:**_** this would be the part of the drumline that does not march. They play instruments that are too large to march with, like marimbas, vibraphones and synthesizers. They are also known as the pit or the front. I will refer to them as the pit, the front and the front ensemble through out this story. **

_**Tech: **_**in my band, we use this as a slang term for a staff member for a certain part of the band. There are music techs, visual techs, guard techs, drumline techs, etc. **

_**Guard: **_**I really hope that all of you know what a guard is, but if not, I'll explain it. Guard is a section in a marching band that consists of members who spin flags, rifles, sabers and occasionally other props. They do not play a musical instrument. There are all male guards, but typical high school guards consist of mostly females. They are also known as auxillary. **

_**Saber and Rifle: **_**I'm explaining this just so none of you get the idea that they are messing with actual weapons. A rifle is usually a rifle-shaped block of wood that is taped over with white tape. It has a black strap that can be used for different moves. A saber is shaped like a rapier with a curved, taped, white blade; a black hilt and a white basket (the hand guard). Usually a guard is split into two sections: flag line, which consists of guard members who only handle flags, like Tenten, and weapon line, which consists of guard members that handle rifles, sabers and flags, like Ino and Sakura. **

**Also, I will be calling people by their section name. Like Sakura keeps saying that she's a weapon. That means that she is in the weapon line of the guard, not that she is a literal weapon. I will also be calling Hinata a clairnet, and Sasuke a snare drum etc. etc. etc. **

**If anybody has any questions, I and Google will be there for you! **

**~ Shard of Freedom **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yo. Chapter Two, woot! I'm excited. I hope you are. Anyway, to those who reviewed, story-alerted, and/or favorited, you guys are cool! I would give you something, but there is the slight problem that I have not yet discovered how to send physical objects through the internet. If anyone knows how, please tell me, because trying to shove things through my laptop is disappointing and expensive. **

**Since one of my reviewers was nice enough to ask, I play clarinet in the marching band. It's my third year. I just happen to be well-informed in color guard stuff. I have a lot of friends in color guard. And brass. And percussion. But if I get anything wrong concerning your respective section, just tell me. Again, there will be a glossary at the end of this chapter for words you may or may not know. **

**Also, you guys can ask me about anything. Seriously. Anything. If you want to know what quatum physics are, I will happily reply that I have no frigging clue. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, I'm quite sure that I would be rich and famous by now. **

* * *

Chapter Two

That First Night

Konoha High Marching Band Information Form

Name: _Sakura Haruno_

Grade: _Junior_

Age:_ 17_

Occupation: _Student_

Instrument: _Weapon Line_

Joined Band: _Freshman Year_

Years of Experience: _3 years _

Hobbies: _spinning, reading, volunteering at the hospital, hanging out with my friends_

Favorite Color: _Pink, of course!_

Favorite Food: _Fresh Fruit_

Favorite TV Show: _Grey's Anatomy _

Why You Joined Band: _Because guard is my life, duh!_

* * *

Sakura couldn't help but watch Hinata carefully. Hinata seemed a bit shaken up by her responses to that question that she had asked, and Sakura was hesitant to give it. Sakura remembered how Hinata had blushed when she mentioned that he was checking her out. It had been a long time since Hinata had been interesting in a guy—any guy. And Sakura loved to play matchmaker. Hell, she was already planning future dates for Tenten. But Sakura was hesitant.

After all, this was _Gaara_ that they were talking about. No, Sakura didn't actual know him, other than what she had heard from Sasuke and Naruto, but she knew of him. After all, who didn't know Gaara Sabaku? Well, Hinata, of course, but that was only because she was a bit oblivious and never judged. Sakura wasn't that innocent of a person.

Practice that night had been killer. Killer in a bad way. Despite popular belief, band camp was hard. It didn't matter who you were. You didn't get up at six o'clock in the morning with only five hours of sleep and go work for twelve hour s and then come home and say that it was easy. Of course, it was only the first night, so they only had evening practice, but for the next two weeks, it was torture. Luckily they got Sundays off. Otherwise they would all die.

Sakura sighed as she slipped back into her cabin. Usually she would be a flurry of words and chatters, but she was too tired to start now. She would be back to her normal self soon, but first she needed to rest her aching feet and arms. Not only was the three-hour block painful, she had also hit herself in the arm with a saber, and that never felt good. Ino had helped her get ice grudgingly, but it was nice that she had cared.

She and Ino had an awkward relationship. They had always fought over everything, from section leader to Sasuke when they were freshmen. Now they had grown out of the awkward crush phase that they had with Sasuke—Ino was crushing hard on Kiba, the clarinet section leader, even though she didn't know it yet, and Sakura . . . well, Sakura had moved through boyfriends pretty quickly, but like Hinata had said, she wasn't honestly looking for a relationship. Ino and Sakura were the best of friends at the best of times, and worst enemies at the worst times. But they were always rivals. They were always fighting for compliments from Kurenai, the guard staff leader, on and off the field. Sakura thought that her becoming section leader, despite the fact that it was Ino's senior year would calm the storm, but it just fueled the fire more. Ino was now desperate to prove that she could be a better section leader in every way, but not to the point of being cruel to Sakura. They were still the best of frenemies. Oh, band drama.

Sakura sighed again as she collapsed on the couch. She was one of the first back into the cabin because the others were busy getting snacks and drinks from the assembly hall that was sort of like Konoha Band's "base camp." Everyone kept their instruments and equipment in there, it was right next to the parking lot, they had their meals there, and the field was just across the road. She was in the commons area of the cabin that now contained her and Hinata's beds. There were four couches, and Hinata's and Sakura's stuff took up one each. In the middle of the room there was a coffee table that had community food on it. Food that was brought to be shared with anyone and everyone. Sakura snagged a granola bar before she sat back down on her extra sleeping bag that she had brought just in case.

Hinata was next to her. Like Sakura, she had decided that she was simply too tired to go with the others. She grabbed a protein bar for herself and decided that would hold her for the morning. Sakura knew that Hinata would cave and eat some Cheez-Its or something else before she went to bed. Like they always said, if you don't eat at band camp, you're not being health-conscious, you're dead.

"Hina, that practice was a bruiser. What'd the winds do?"

Hinata shrugged as she bit into her granola bar. "We just went over drill and stuff. It was pretty boring. Nej is pushing us pretty far though."

Neji was the visual tech for the marching band. He sat at the top of the scaffold when they ran drill (marching coordinates) and shouted instructions through a microphone. He used to be the drum major at Konoha High three years ago, before he graduated. After that, Asuma-sensei had hired him back to become the visual tech for the band, since he was such a good marcher and drum major. For two years he had declined the offer in order to march drum corps with the Bluecoats, but last year he had decided to accept. Before he had been a drum major, he had been the only guy flute in the marching band. That, and his long hair, had gotten him teased during high school, but once he became drum major, there was a new level of respect for him throughout the entire school. Suddenly he was the one on the top of the podium shouting orders instead of taking them. Sakura knew that Hinata was quite proud of him. Heck, Sakura was proud of him and she wasn't even related to Neji. But everyone knew that he pushed the band hard. It was in his nature.

Now, the drum major torch had been passed to a senior named Rock Lee, who was one of Neji's best friends back when he was in band, even though Neji was three years older. The two were complete opposites, with Neji being calm and cool, and Lee being excitable and fiery. But they shared the same passion for band and wanted the Konoha High Band to be the best. Rock Lee was well-known and liked, but everyone called him Lee or Bushy Brows.

Sakura untied her shoe laces. "Yeah, the guard is learning new work. We didn't get to meet the new guard tech though. Kurenai says that he'll be here for tomorrow's afternoon practice."

"I hope that he's as good as the rumors say that he is."

"He spun in drum corps for two years. He has to be good. But nobody will tell me his name. I wonder why."

Hinata simply bit into her granola bar again, not having the answers to Sakura's questions. Sakura didn't mind her silence. She and Hinata had been friends for over three years, before band had even started. They had decided to join band together their freshman year, and they had been close ever since. They had now included Tenten and Stella into their group, along with some of the guys.

Sakura had had a rough practice. It was her first practice as official section leader, and it was a lot of work. Everyone looked to her to lead and be on time. If she was wrong, it seemed like a bad thing. And Ino wasn't making her life any easier with her constant nagging. But that was something that she had already expected.

Sakura rolled her shoulders back. "Being section leader is hard. Is this how it is for you all the time?"

Hinata smiled. "Well, yeah. But it's okay. I don't mind doing Kiba's work for him. It gives me a sense of accomplishment."

It was well-known that Hinata did all the work for the clarinet section leader, Kiba. Kiba was a senior who was upbeat and irresponsible, so when Kiba had been made into the section leader, Hinata told him that she would handle all of the technical responsibilities. She didn't want the clarinet section to fall apart, and they had five new rookies this year. Someone had to handle the section. So Hinata got all the work without any of the credit. Even the staff people knew that if you wanted a clarinet to do something, you went to Hinata.

"Hina, you do too much. Remember all those asthma attacks you had your freshman year?"

Hinata stiffened. She hated being reminded of her freshman year. She had had a falling out with her family, and it caused her lots of stress to remember it. She ran her hands over her purple bracelets, which was one of her nervous habits. "It's different now, Sakura. Freshman year was just a . . . bad time for me." She smiled sweetly, but it was one of those smiles that had an underlying feeling of "I'm fine. Now drop it."

Sakura, knowing that if she pushed too far she would either make Hinata very angry or have her burst into tears, simply nodded. Sensing Hinata's bad mood, Sakura did what she always did—talked. At least a half an hour must have passed before the others came in.

"Oh my god, I'm beat," Tenten said as she walked into the cabin slowly. Stella followed behind her, her usual bright smile dimmed by the amount of work that they had done. Hinata waved to the two of them as she scrambled around to grab all of her shower stuff while Sakura said, "Hey, guys."

Hinata threw her towel and her pajamas over her shoulder before grabbing her bathroom kit and her shampoo. She practically bolted into the bathroom. Sakura, who was used to her behavior, didn't even blink.

Tenten looked a bit surprised as she sank into an armchair. "What was that all about?"

Sakura waved a hand. "Nothing. Hinata's always the first one into the showers and the last one out. It's a matter of privacy for her, I think."

Stella stretched her arms over her head. She was a flute player, so her arms were sure to hurt after holding her flute parallel for so long. Not above, not below, but exactly parallel to the ground. Sakura was a guard girl, so she didn't exactly know the pain, but she could image what it was like. "Guys, I'm beat. I think that I'm going to take a leaf out of Hinata's book and hit the showers."

Tenten nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Everybody smells like sweat and sunscreen."

"Ain't that the truth," Sakura murmured. As the three girls gathered up their stuff, they took the three remaining showers that weren't being used. There were two bathrooms, with two showers in each. Sakura made sure to grab that one next to Hinata, knowing that the girl would feel less self-conscious with her there. Sakura didn't really understand Hinata's self-esteem issues, as Sakura tended to be naturally confident, but she definitely didn't want to add to them.

She could hear Hinata pulling off the layers of bracelets that she had around her wrists. Sakura had only asked about the bracelets once. Hinata had only said, "They are a promise" before tearing up. After that, Sakura didn't ask anymore. Sakura started slipping out of the camis and sports bras that she wore. Kurenai had a firm hand when it came to how the guard dressed. After all, there were guys in the band and the guard danced and jumped around a lot. If anything even remotely showed, you were giving Kurenai ten pushups. She turned the water on and sat down on the chair-shelf that was in the corner of the stall. It took a while for the camp showers to heat up. She heard the other shower turn on next to her.

Sakura was tempted to talk to Hinata, but she knew that Hinata wouldn't answer back. During her freshman and sophomore years, Sakura had tried to talk to Hinata in the showers, but now she had just given up. Hinata always had a lot on her mind, and Sakura wouldn't push. Hinata was her best friend, and she would open up when she was ready.

Sakura cracked her back again. Everyone in band had their "problem area." Most people had a bad ankle or a bad foot or something else that bothered them. Hinata had really bad asthma that acted up when she was stressed out or when she ran for long periods of time. Temari, a girl who played vibe in the pit and sister to Gaara, had issues with growth plates in her ankles which caused her intense, sudden pain. For Sakura, it was her back. It had randomly started hurting her last year. For a while, she had been worried, so she had gone to the hospital and gotten a checkup. Luckily, the doctors told her that there wasn't anything wrong with her back other than sore muscles and fatigue. That was the good part. The bad part was that it kept hurting her. Occasionally, Sakura would have to sit out certain practices and lay down with ice on her back. Strangely, Ino was the one who helped her during these times.

While she had been thinking, steam had started coming from the shower, and she knew that it was ready. There was only one way that Sakura liked her showers—nice and hot. Despite that, she showered quickly. She definitely wanted to leave before the rush came.

Sakura pulled on her pink plaid pajama bottoms and a Metroid T-shirt. Typical to the band image, most of the kids in band—boys and girls—were sort-of nerds. The sort-of part was there because they would never define themselves as such. Sakura's hair was loose as she brushed it in front of the mirror, moving over so that another freshman girl could share the countertop with her. Sakura wanted to say that she knew her name, but she sort of lost track of the freshman who weren't in her section. Oh well, she'd learn them before the end of the two weeks of camp.

Just before she left the bathroom, she tapped on the side of Hinata's shower and said softly, "I'm leaving, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Hinata murmured back. Satisfied, Sakura turned and left the showers behind.

She saw that both Tenten and Stella were in the commons area with her. She waved to them and sat down on the couch, avoiding the sugary snacks as she had just brushed her teeth. Tenten and Stella moved from their places to the couch across from Sakura, chatting away happily.

Somehow, their happy chat had degrading into an all-or-nothing game of truth or dare, played on Tenten's cellphone. Luckily, they were playing the clean version, because there was no way that Sakura was going to kiss _anyone_ in the room with her. The game consisted of Stella, Tenten, Sakura, Temari—who had walked out of the showers and had decided to join in—and Jamie, the blunt, funny section leader of the flutes.

In the middle of game, Hinata walked out the showers. By this time, it was nearing eleven o'clock, which meant that cabins would be checked by the staff members in fifteen minutes. Lights out was supposed to be fifteen minutes after that, but the game could continue just as well with flashlights. Like anyone slept the first day of band camp anyway.

Hinata was wearing purple pajama bottoms and a white shirt that said in black letters "GOT BAND?" It had been the clarinet section t-shirt Hinata's freshman year. She was still wearing the layers and layers of bracelets. Her black hair was French-braided down her back. Hinata only wore her hair like that during band camp because she didn't want the hassle of having to do it in the morning. Her lavender-white eyes were accented by her sharp bangs that weren't long enough to fit into the braid. Sakura wasn't lying when she said that Hinata was hot. Hinata was more than hot—she was gorgeous. If only the guy that she was crushing on could see her now. There was no doubt that he would be at her feet, no matter what Hinata thought.

Sakura raised a hand in greeting. "Yo, Hina, want to join us?"

Hinata smiled and laid down her toiletry bag and her towel. "Sure, why not?" She sat down right next to Sakura while Tenten messed around with her iPhone, trying to let it allow another player.

While she did that, Sakura decided that it was her job to break the ice. "Okay, introductions. Hinata, I'm sure that you know Jamie and Stella, but this is Temari, who's a senior and a rookie. She plays vibe." _She's also Gaara's twin sister, _Sakura thought, but decided to keep that thought to herself.

Hinata gave a little wave to Temari, who had her hair down and out of the four ponytails that she usually kept it in. "Hey, Temari, I'm Hinata. I'm a junior and I play clarinet. This'll be my third year."

Temari smiled. "Hey. It's great to meet you. I don't have a lot of friends in the band other than my brother and his friends in the battery."

Hinata tilted her head. "Who's your brother?"

Sakura, Jamie and Tenten noticeably stiffened, while Stella and Hinata remained oblivious. Temari just brushed off their reactions.

"Oh, I thought that you would have heard of him. But, never mind. His name's Gaara and he's the new tenor drum in the battery. He's a senior like me."

Hinata nodded and Sakura sighed with relief. She would tell Hinata about it later than night, but for the moment, she didn't want to offend Temari, who was fiercely protective of her brother and wouldn't hesitate anyone who spoke badly about her brother. Sakura would explain everything later.

"Ah ha!" Tenten exclaimed, holding up her phone in triumph. "I finally managed to figure out how to include Hinata into the game."

"Congrats, Ten," Sakura said. "Then let's get this party started."

Tenten clicked the button on her phone. "Okay, this one's for Stella. Truth or Dare?"

"Dare, of course!" Stella said in her high, pretty voice.

"Darn it. This one will be easy for you."

"What is it?"

"To sing a Broadway show tune at the top of your lungs. We're just lucky that Stella has a good voice. Imagine how it would have been if Sakura had gotten this dare." The group laughed while Sakura shot her a glare. She was well aware that she had a terrible voice. It didn't really help that she was tone-deaf.

The group listened while Stella gave a stunning rendition of "Popular" from Wicked. Stella spent most of her time between musicals and plays, so it wasn't shocking that she had a great voice. Stella wasn't sure what she wanted to be when she was older, but Sakura had always suspected that she would make a fabulous actress.

A few more rounds went by, with Sakura telling about the time that she had assumed her boyfriend's mother was pregnant and she wasn't, and Temari dancing like a chicken around the entire girl's cabins. Then Hinata's turn came.

"Okay, Hinata," Tenten said, "Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Hinata said, after thinking about it. Sakura knew that Hinata didn't want to embarrass herself. She had always been quite the shy girl.

"Okay." Tenten pressed another button on her phone. "Truth. Who was your first crush?"

Hinata blushed fiercely, the same way that she had done before practice when Sakura teased her about the guy who had been looking at her. "Well . . ."

"Come on, girl, spill it!" Temari said, looking eager.

Hinata breathed out softly, and the other girls seemed to lean in, looking for either new gossip or a good story.

"Well, it was last year. Unlike my freshman year, when I was terribly shy and stuttered horribly, I had some confidence. During this time, I was a sophomore and a veteran, ready to take on the world. One day, I met Naruto, the leader of the tuba section. I had known him from band and in passing, but not enough to say that we were friends. During my honors chem class, we were paired up as partners. Eventually, I just sort of fell for him. Around October, I ended up confessing to him. Naruto turned me down."

Eyes full of pity locked on Hinata. Stella gasped. "Was there another girl?"

Hinata shook her head. "No, nothing like that. He—he told me . . ." Hinata blushed and turned away.

Sakura rolled her eyes. She was one of the first people to hear this story from Hinata, almost an entire year ago (it was currently the end of July) and Hinata still felt embarrassed about it. God, it wasn't even her fault.

"Naruto told Hinata that he was gay, all right?" Sakura said bluntly and Hinata turned away from her again, her face a fiery red.

"Really?"

"Oh, my GOD I never knew that!"

"Are you guys being serious?"

Jamie did nothing other than shrug. She was a veteran, so she already knew that Naruto was gay. After all, it wasn't like he tried to hide it of anything. If you asked him, he would come out and tell you that he played for the other team. He had told practically the entire band last year. Sakura had known once Hinata had told her. Hinata had been oblivious to the rumors, and she didn't figure out until that very awkward conversation with Naruto. However, they were still good friends. After all, who wasn't friends with Hinata? There was just this adorableness to her.

Sakura nodded. "Of course I'm being serious. I've been friends with Naruto for years. It was as much of a shock to me as it was to everyone. But he came out his sophomore year, and if you ask him, he'll come straight out and tell you. It's not like he's shy about it."

"Wow, Hinata, I'm sorry for you," Stella said with a slight pout. How Stella was feeling was always on her face. She was like an open book.

Hinata just shrugged, the blush on her face fading. "It's no big deal. I mean, I guess that that was a better option than him telling me that he was in love with another girl, ya know?"

"Yeah, I guess it is better than that," Tenten said.

Hinata just smiled, but Sakura could tell that it was fake. She had liked Naruto a lot more than she had led on. Sakura had been with her for every step of the way, watching the background and caring about Hinata, praying that she didn't get hurt. She was over him now, but old wounds could still sting.

The game continued for a few more rounds before the girls were forced into bed by Tsunade, who came around to turn the lights out. Hinata put in her iPod and drifted into bed, but Sakura stayed awake, and it wasn't just the lingering whispers and giggles that she could hear from the guard girls in the bunks. For Christ's sake, she could hear them _through_ the walls. She would have put a stop to it if she didn't have so much on her mind. The first night was always the worst. Only thirteen more after that.

When she heard Hinata shift again in her bed, Sakura knew that it was the same for her. Eventually, when she saw that the clock read 12:11, she got up out of bed and moved over to Hinata.

Hinata had her eyes scrunched closed and her iPod earbuds in, drowning in the music. Sakura could hear the classical music from where she was standing. Sakura would have thought that Hinata was sleeping, but her foot was tapping along to the beat. Sakura lightly tapped her shoulder, not wanting to startle her. She didn't succeed.

Hinata jumped so far out of bed that Sakura almost thought that she was flying. She also hit her foot painfully against the corner of the couch, and Sakura could almost hear the curse words that Hinata was trying not to say. Hinata sighed while rubbing her foot for a moment. She popped the earbuds out of her ears and allowed them to hang around her neck for a moment, blasting the beat, before she put her iPod on pause.

"Hey, Sakura, what's going on?" Hinata rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hand, which was still covered in those same annoying bracelets.

"Hina, we need to talk."

"Sure, talk."

Sakura was silent, trying to figure out the words to explain herself.

"Was this about the guy that I saw today?" Hinata said calmly, her words even and soothing, no anger in her voice.

Sakura nodded. "His name's Gaara Sabaku. He's the brother of Temari, that girl you saw today. He's . . . well, he's got quite the reputation, inside and outside of band."

"'Kura, you know that I don't listen to rumors."

"I know that you don't, but I think that I should tell you about it anyway. You seem . . . interested in him, I guess, and I don't you want to get over your head. Back at school, he's known as The Demon. He's scary, Hina. There're a lot of rumors concerning him, and nearly all of them involve someone in the hospital or someone getting hurt. I don't know what possessed him to join band, but I don't have any reason to believe that it'll be different here. I . . . I just don't want you to get hurt."

"Sakura, I know that you're just looking out for me but I can take care of myself. I'm not the stuttering little girl that I used to be. I don't need you to protect me." Just like before, there was no animosity in her voice, just a calm, soothing tone. "Besides, I don't even know the guy. How can I judge?"

"Hina, sometimes I think that you're too excepting for your own good."

"And 'Kura, sometimes I think that you judge people before you get to know them."

Sakura sighed, knowing that she wouldn't get anywhere with this conversation. She ran a hand through her loose pink hair. "Okay . . . Just promise me . . . promise me that you'll be careful."

A small smile spread across Hinata's face. "Don't worry, Sakura, I always am." With that, she pushed her earbuds back into her ears, swimming the classical music once more, signaling that the conversation was over.

Sakura walked back over to her cot and laid back down. Despite Hinata's promises, it took her a long time for Sakura to get to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

_**Drum Corps: **_**I forgot to include this one in the last chapter's glossary, so I'll include it now. Drum Corps are like professional marching bands. They consist of percussion, brass, and color guard sections. Woodwinds are not in drum corps. Oh, and it's pernounced Drum Core. You have to try out each year to get into a drum corps. They are AMAZING. **

_**Drum Major: **_**Normally a band is lead by a conductor, right? Well, a drum major is like the conductor for the marching band, except instead of being some old guy standing on a podium, it's one of the students. Other than just being the conductor, they are also the student leader of the band. A band can have more than one drum major, but there is always one "lead" drum major, who's the leader of the band. **

_**Bluecoats: **_**the Bluecoats is a drum corps located in Canton, Ohio, and they are quite good. They continually place in the competitions that they compete in, whether or not they win grand champion. Although I did say that Neji was a flute player, it should be noted that he had to switch to baritone in order to play in a drum corps, since they do not accept woodwinds. **

_**Drill: **_**Drill is like marching coordinates for the marching band. Drill consists of a band moving "dot" to "dot" on a marching band field to create different shapes and figures. Each band member in the marching band has different drill, because they move to different spots on the field. Connect all the dots and you get a show! If you don't understand, it doesn't really matter to the story. If you're just curious, review or PM me and I'll be happy to explain it in more detail. **

_**Work: **_**Unlike drill, only the color guard has work. Work is the dancing, spinning, or movements that go along with drill. The color guard does work and drill simultaniously. If you see a color guard moving across the field, that's drill. If you see them spinning a flag, that's work. **

_**Vibe: **_**A shortened, slang term for vibraphone, an instrument in the pit (front ensemble). A vibe is the one with the metal keys, like a giant, lower-ptched glockenspiel. And I am aware that I spelled that wrong. **

_**Tuba: **_**It's not really super important, but I just wanted to tell everyone that despite the fact that I refer to them as tubas, they are actually sousaphones. I will probably continue to call them tubas throughout the story, because it's easier to type, but I do realize that there is a difference between a tuba and a sousaphone. **

**For those of you who are offended by it, I'm sorry that Naruto is gay in this fic. I hope that it doesn't cause you to give up on this story, but if it does, I do understand and will not be offended. It is a plot point that it is important to this story, and it will continue to crop up. I personally do not believe that he is gay in the original series, nor will he ever be, but for the purposes of this story, he is. **

**Well, I hope that I didn't forget anything. See you in the next chapter, which is in the point of view of a character you have seen only briefly!**

**Hmm . . . **

**~ Shard of Freedom**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Welcome to the magical world of Chapter Three. Well, not so magical, considering that this is modern day AU. But still. Again, to all the people who were cool enough to review, story-alert or favorite, I and this story owe you. You guys are the reason that I update. Sometimes it's good to know that you're writing for something other than to release your messed-up imagination. At least, that's how I see it. **

**I don't think that there's going to be a glossary in this chapter. I think that I've explained all the terms that I use in this chapter in the previous two chapters. If I forget anything, just tell me, 'kay? **

**Also, shout out to MusicGeek764 and sky-diving purple kangaroo. They are two of my reviewers, but they are also my friends in real life! They are also in band with me. MusicGeek is a trumpet and sky-diving purple kangaroo is a bass drum. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I'm not exactly sure what I would do, but I'm sure that it would involve an awful lot of victory dancing.**

* * *

Chapter Three

Cabin Number Four

Konoha High Marching Band Information Form

Name: _Sasuke Uchiha_

Grade: _Senior_

Age: _18_

Occupation: _What occupation do you think I have? Clearly I am a circus performer. Ha. _

Instrument: _Snare drum_

Joined Band: _Freshman Year_

Years of Experience: _4 years_

Hobbies: _And . . . you care why? _

Favorite Color: _Black _

Favorite Food: _I don't know. The edible kind. _

Favorite TV Show: _TV is stupid. Like this information form. _

Why You Joined Band: _'Cause I wanted to. I did not, however, want to fill out a stupid information form._

* * *

Sasuke sighed. Practice had been hard for the battery as well. For the last few years, the battery had been an all-male section, but with the recent influx of students into the band program, it was now half and half. Which meant more fangirls to have to worry about. The only one who wasn't falling at his feet was Ginny, Bass Drum #3. She was a pretty cool girl. Not really his type, but most people were convinced that nobody was his type. To be honest, it was probably true. But honesty was overrated.

Sasuke was currently walking back to his cabin with Ginny and Gaara, the new tenor drum. He and Sasuke got along swimmingly, but that was just because they were both quiet, cold and maintained a "don't mess with me, I don't mess with you" relationship. And despite the rumors, Gaara was a pretty cool guy. And some of the rumors were really bad.

Like that he had messed up a kid who had tried to bully him his freshman year.

Or that his father tried to force him into a hospital, saying that he was mentally unstable.

And they only got worse from there. Sasuke didn't think that rumors were all that truthful, because if they were, he had slept with like the entire sophomore class. And he knew that wasn't true.

Ginny and Gaara were on either side of him. When they got to the center of the circle of cabins, Sasuke sat down on a picnic table under a tree, which was to provide shade, which didn't matter much now, considering that the sun was setting. Other marching band members were drifting into their own cabins from the assembly hall from the fields. Sasuke saw Sakura and Hinata slip into Casper 1 almost immediately after practice. Surprisingly, he saw Gaara watch the two of them as well. Hm . . . Sasuke sensed teasing material.

Sasuke liked to count Hinata as one of his friends. Neji definitely was, after the drum major-turned-staff had practically taken him under his wing during his freshman year. The senior drum major should have had nothing to do with an uncool freshman like him. Well, not exactly uncool, but you get the point. Sakura was a close . . . acquaintance; at least once she had gotten over her fan-girl side. They hung out now and then, but that was usually only when he was talking with Hinata.

Sasuke sat on the actual table, his feet resting against the bench. Ginny sat below him, on his right side on the bench. Gaara was directly on his left. The three of them had grown pretty close over the time that they had been together, through pre-camp and the practices before. The three of them were practically representative for their respective sections in the battery—bass, snare and tenor—so they hung out a lot together, along with Kakashi, the drumline tech. Gaara was the strong, silent one who kept them in line; Ginny was rebellious, fun one who seemed to lack a lot of common sense for someone who took all honors classes; and then there was Sasuke. Sometimes he felt like he was the glue who kept the three of them together. Because while Gaara and Ginny did hang out when he wasn't around, they always had more fun and talked more when he was around.

"Guys, I think that it's official. Band camp sucks," Ginny said, crossing and uncrossing her legs as she sat on the awkward bench.

Although Sasuke would never tell her, Ginny was really pretty. She looked kind of like Hinata, with her long black hair that fell to her lower back, except Ginny's was curly. She usually had it in a braid or a long ponytail, but she had allowed it to be loose after practice today. She always complained how it was in her way. Of course, since her closest friends were guys, her complaints fell on deaf ears. She had dark eyes and tan skin from all the time that she spent outside with band. Of course, that meant that she had really bad tan lines as well. Her tank top tan lines were especially bad, but Ginny didn't seem to care. She had a pink and blue tank top on and black short-shorts. Ginny definitely had the legs to pull them off. But while Sasuke could admit all this, there was the simple fact that he just wasn't attracted.

Sasuke smirked. "But Gin, it's only the first day. What's going to happen when you have to wake up at six in the morning tomorrow?"

Ginny groaned. "Don't remind me. I may be a junior, but this is my rookie year. I don't want to go to band camp at all."

"It doesn't get any easier on the vets either."

"Thanks, Sas." Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Gin. It's my rookie year too. I'll be going through the same thing." Gaara says with a hint of sympathy and a smile in his voice.

Despite the "I'm a bastard, don't talk to me" persona that he fed to the public, Sasuke knew that Gaara was a good guy. He cared for people and could relate to them easily. Once Sasuke had gotten to know him, he had learned that Gaara wasn't nearly as cold as he made himself out to be. In fact, between the two of them, Gaara was probably the nicer. He was just complicated. It was hard to force yourself through his shell.

The three of them sat like that until it was nearly lights out, with Ginny supplying most of the conversation and Sasuke and Gaara chipping in when they felt like it was necessary. Between the three of them, they could get a pretty good conversation going, but Ginny was definitely the talker.

In the middle of their conversation about Kakashi's latest rant about their triplets, Naruto walked up to the three of them. Sasuke stiffened as soon as he got close to them, while Gaara raised a hand in greeting. For some reason unknown to everyone, Gaara, the alienated Demon, and Naruto, one of the brightest, well-liked kids in band, were friends. They had been for a long time. And strangely, unlike anyone else who hung out with Gaara—Ginny especially—Naruto got no crap about it. But he was the only one. Sasuke was spared from the brute of the complaints, but Ginny wasn't.

First off, there were the people who thought that Ginny was dating Gaara, but she brushed the comments off, saying that she and Gaara were friends and that's all that they were. Indeed, Ginny showed no romantic interest in either Gaara or Sasuke, which had him suspecting that Ginny was probably taken or in love with someone else. Which was entirely possible—she was a very pretty girl, as Sasuke had already said. Then there came the "concerned" comments that Ginny was being used or taken advantage was by Gaara. Sasuke always gritted his teeth when he heard those comments. They were basically calling Ginny a slut to her face, but poorly veiled with concern. Worst of all, there were the snide remarks that Ginny, Sasuke, and Gaara were either a) selling drugs or b) on drugs themselves. Which wasn't even remotely true. Ginny hated needles with a passion.

Naruto, however, was spared. Maybe it was a good thing. He already got a lot of crap about being the only out gay guy in band, and one of the few in the school. Nobody out-right teased him—he was far too well-liked for someone to get away with that—but Sasuke could just tell that some people had a problem with it.

"Hey, Gaara, Ginny." He avoided Sasuke's name. Smart.

"Hey, Naruto. How's the tuba sections?" Ginny asked kindly. Gaara simply nodded at Naruto's greeting. Sasuke did nothing and pretended like he wasn't there.

"Oh, they're fine. I was just checking up on you guys." Naruto turned to Gaara with an obvious pout on his face. "Anyway, Gaara, you haven't been hanging out with me lately. I know that Sasuke is sooo cool and all, but don't hang me out to dry!"

Gaara chuckled softly. "It's only been a couple of days, Naruto. It's not like I see you during practices or anything."

"Exactly! That's more of a reason to hang out with me!"

Gaara shook his head, convinced that he was hopeless. It was an accurate statement. Some people said that Gaara and Naruto had a _thing_ going on—honestly, what was it with everyone pairing Gaara up with everyone else? He rarely showed emotion at all, but from all the rumors, he was practically drowning in it—but Sasuke knew that Gaara didn't swing that way and Naruto was way too nice to come on to anyone who he knew wasn't interested. He just wasn't that kind of guy.

Naruto looked at his watch. "Oh, shoot! I've got to go get my meds before the cabin checks!"

Gaara got up off of the bench, with Ginny and Sasuke following suit. "Yeah, we should fall in too. See you in the morning?"

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, bright and early." The thing was, that smile wasn't fake. Sasuke groaned silently. Only Naruto could be truly happy about that. And especially in this awkward situation.

As Naruto walked away, he didn't look where he was going and ran straight into Sasuke. His eyes widened immediately and he moved away faster than a lightning strike. Sasuke turned away and pretended not to notice the awkward blush on Naruto's cheeks. He especially didn't want to notice the slight one on his own. The two of them jumped away like they were burned.

"Sorry," Naruto mumbled.

"It's no problem," Sasuke murmured straight back. If it had been a different time, if it had been three years earlier, he would have added the "moron" that he usually did on the end, but it wasn't so he left it at that. He couldn't look at Naruto, and the blond-haired knucklehead had become especially interested in the ground. What was to be said? This was the first contact that they had had in nearly two years.

As Naruto walked away, he brushed shoulders with Sasuke, either intentional or not. Either way, Sasuke stiffened.

Ginny looked at him curiously, but said nothing. She wasn't one to pry. Gaara did nothing, but he did shoot Sasuke a glare that said, "we're going to talk about this later." Sasuke wasn't looking forward to that. It was like impossible to lie to Gaara.

"So . . ." Ginny said, trying to break that silence. "Any news, guys?"

"Well . . ." Sasuke trailed off laughingly, trying to bait his friend.

"Well?" Ginny said excitedly.

"I did happen to notice that our dear friend Gaara has taken a sudden interest in a certain Hinata Hyuuga."

Gaara only rolled his eyes. So he had stared at a girl. Sue him.

Ginny clapped her hands together and went on and on about how it was so cute all while nudging Gaara unsubtly in the side. And the look on Gaara's face! Had Sasuke been a lesser man, he would have burst out laughing. And had Gaara been a lesser man, he would have told Ginny to stop. But Gaara was Gaara and Sasuke was Sasuke, so they let Ginny continue with her teasing and Sasuke only cracked small smiled now and then.

After a while, Sasuke told Ginny to stop, and she did, but she was still smiling sweetly. Sasuke just clapped a hand on Gaara's shoulder. "I hope you realize we were just kidding, man."

Gaara nodded to Sasuke and Ginny, letting them know that all was forgiven. For a moment, there was a comfortable silence, until Ginny yawned and placed a hand over his mouth.

Ginny stretched her arms over his head. "Well, guys, I got to hit the hay! See you guys tomorrow?"

"Like we'll have any choice in the matter," Sasuke scoffed.

Ginny smiled and shrugged as she practically skipped back to her cabin. Sasuke swore that that girl never ran out of energy.

Gaara and Sasuke headed back to their cabin, Sugar Lodge 4, silently. Neither of them spoke much when Ginny wasn't around. Gaara didn't hold grudges, but Sasuke knew that he would get him back for the teasing about Hinata later. Sasuke and Gaara got into their cabin and tried to block out the noise of the annoying freshman that were in the cabin with them. Gaara and Sasuke weren't bunking together, for the simple reason that neither of them wanted the top bunk, and they weren't willing to argue about it. No, not argue. Neither Gaara nor Sasuke "argued." They would basically have a staring contesting with Sasuke occasionally making snide remarks. According to Ginny, it was very entertaining to watch.

Their cabin wasn't impressive. Unlike the lodges that the girls got (Ginny said that it was positive sexism), the little Sugar Lodges were tiny. They had a small bathroom that held a single shower. A single shower for ten guys? Hn. Good luck with that. The bathroom wasn't even big enough to have the sinks as well, so they were outside in the actual room, right next to all the bunk beds. It was already cluttered with razors and soaps and acne medicine and toothbrushes. Finding out whose was whose would take a long time. Sasuke wasn't looking forward to the scramble that would occur when all the guys had to clean up their stuff.

They sat down, and before Sasuke could slip his headphones in and drown in music, Gaara tapped him on the shoulder. Since the beds were so close to one another (Sasuke swore that the cabin was smaller than his room at home, and it was intended to house ten kids), Gaara could do that without getting up from his own bed.

"What's with you and Naruto, Sas?" Gaara rarely used Sasuke's nickname, but it wasn't unwelcome.

Sasuke sighed. He lay down on the bed and put his hands behind his head. "Let's just say that it's complicated. There's a lot between Naruto and me, and not all of it is good."

Gaara only raised and red eyebrow.

The raven-haired boy exhaled slowly. "You want answers, don't you?"

Gaara nodded once.

"I'm not entirely sure that I can give you them. Everything's . . . under a lid right now, and I don't want to open it anytime soon. I'm graduating in the spring anyway, so everything will be fine then." There was a period of silence, and Sasuke felt the need to tell someone, anyone. Not all of it, of course, but something. And Gaara was honestly curious. That meant something.

"Naruto and I used to be best friends. You know, the whole cliché thing. Lived next to each other, parents were friends, blah blah blah. So we were really close. He was probably the closest friend that I've ever had. But that is pretty much common knowledge. Most of the band kids around here will tell you that if you ask. Of course, they'll also tell you that things went bad between me and Naruto at the end of my freshman year, just before band started. Of course, that was a while before you came here. That was the first time that we had talked since two years ago."

"What happened?"

The words were at the tip of his tongue. He could have just said it. Told Gaara about everything that had happened, with his family, with his . . . But no. Years of being silent and bottling everything up prevailed. He just couldn't spill everything. That was way too close to his heart.

"Things just went sour. Friends drift. That's just what happens."

Sasuke could tell that his red-headed friend didn't believe him for a second. But Gaara wasn't one to pry. Actually, none of his friends were the prying type. Maybe that was why he got along so well with all of them. Maybe that was why he had never opened up.

Gaara turned over and fished his own iPod out of his bag. "If you say so. But I'm just going to warn you. Feelings have consequences. Bottled up feelings have the worst type of consequences. But I guess you already knew that, don't you?" Before Sasuke could even respond, Gaara stuck the black headphones into his ears. Even Sasuke did try to get an explanation out of him, his only response would be the dull sounds of heavy metal rock.

_Feelings have consequences. Bottled up feeling have the worst type of consequences. But I guess that you already knew that, don't you? _

Of course Sasuke did. He knew it a lot better than most people. After all, he'd been bottling things up for years.

* * *

**A/N: Like I mentioned before, no glossary for this chapter. Sad face. But it's more of a friendship/drama chapter, so no new band terms this time.**

**Anyway, what'd ya think? Ah, you can just smell the drama waiting to unfold. Have fun, my readers. It's only going to get more interesting from here on out. And for those of you who are guessing what's going on with my characters, believe me, it's a lot more complicated than I've let on! But guess on! It'll be fun to see what you people come up with.**

**As for the future, the next chapter is in the point of view of our main character, Hinata! She and a difficult-to-understand red-head might just meet in the next chapter . . . **

**No promises! ; )**

**Oh, my readers are so going to kill me . . . **

**~ Shard of Freedom**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hi! Wow, my last chapter got me a lot more viewers and/or followers and/or reviwers. I guess you people love the drama, right? Well, here's more of it. As for the schedule below, this is actually my personal schedule for band camp. I know, it sucks, right? My personal band camp continues for just a single week, but still, it's a lot of work. **

**I'm trying to cut out as much of the practices out of this fic as possible. Not because they're not important to band camp (they're the only reason we go to band camp after all), but rather because they're so bloody boring. Excuse my British cursing, I've been watching too many Harry Potter movies. But seriously, they are REALLY BORING. I mean, there's a funny joke here and there, but other than that, not much goes down during practice other than well, practice. But since this chapter has more band in it than the last, there will be glossary at the end of the chapter. **

**Here goes chapter four! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did . . . oh, crap I'm running out of funny disclaimers.**

* * *

Chapter Four

Attack

_**Band Camp Schedule **_

_**6:00 a.m. Wake Up**_

_**7:00 a.m. Rehearsal (Early Morning Block)**_

_**8:30 a.m. Breakfast **_

_**9:15 a.m. Rehearsal (Morning Block)**_

_**12:00 p.m. Lunch**_

_**1:00 p.m. Rehearsal (Afternoon Block) **_

_**3:45 p.m. Free Time**_

_**5:00 p.m. Dinner **_

_**6:00 p.m. Rehearsal (Evening Block) **_

_**9:15 p.m. Free Time **_

_**11:15 p.m. Cabin Checks**_

_**11:30 p.m. Lights Out**_

* * *

Hinata got up groggily, slipping her headphones out of her ears. Since she was sleeping in the commons areas, the room was already filled with half-awake girls trying to snap themselves out of drowsiness. A couple of them walked clumsily to the bathrooms, getting ready for a new day. No one was truly awake. After all, who could be at six in the morning? Even Sakura nearly tripped over her shoes as she got out of bed.

Hinata looked around to discover what had woken her up. When her phone went off again, chipping the most annoying ringtone she had on her phone, the other girls around her groaned. Hinata turned it off quickly and sat up in bed.

Saukra made her way over to the couch next to Hinata's bed, chewing on a granola bar. Since they had an hour-and-a-half rehearsal before breakfast, it wasn't wise to go into it on an empty stomach. She ran her hands through her loose hair. During band camp, Hinata usually kept her hair in a French braid, since she didn't have to do her hair in the morning that way.

"Thank God you turned off that phone," Sakura said with a yawn in her voice. "It went off like 5 times. I don't understand why you have a phone when everyone _but_ you gets up with it."

Hinata only shrugged. She had never been much of a morning person, and she still hadn't forgotten that conversation from last night. How could Saukra say that stuff? But Hinata wouldn't hold a grudge, so she smiled and grabbed one of Saukra's granola bars that she held to her.

Eventually, around six-thirty, Sakura and Hinata went into the bathrooms to get changed. Saukra changed back into her camis and tank-top. Hinata wore a gray T-shirt with flowers on it and normal black shorts. Of course she still had on her bracelets, but she also had some homemade friendship bracelets on her ankles. Sakura had given her most of them, but others were from Tenten and Stella. Hinata brushed her teeth before gathering up her pajamas and leaving the bathroom, while Sakura continued to brush her hair.

Hinata pulled on some of her old, ratty tennis shoes. Since they were going out so early in the morning, the grass was still wet, and it would ruin her good tennis shoes. The entire band changed their shoes after the early morning block, so that they wouldn't get blisters and so that their old shoes would be dry by the next morning.

Sakura came out of the bathroom. "Time Check!" Sakura called out, loud enough so that everyone could hear her.

"6:41!" one girl called.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late!"

That thought went through most of the girl's minds as soon as they heard the actual time. Despite the schedule saying that the practice started at seven, everyone knew that that was a lie. "Practice at seven" meant that they should be on the field at 6:50 at the latest. Like everyone said, if you were early, you were on time. If you were on time, you were late. If you were late, you were running laps.

Hinata grabbed her water bottle and her bag, which contained all the essentials—sunscreen, music, extra reeds, cell phone, hat, deodorant—and started to walk out of the door before she remembered and grabbed a beach towel from her suitcase. Her clarinet was in the assembly hall with the rest of the instruments. Hinata quickly left the cabin, Sakura right behind her.

There was a slight fog around the camp. The grass was wet, but it was still muggy and hot. Sakura and Hinata headed to the assembly hall. As they were walking they were joined by Sasuke and his friend Ginny. Hinata didn't know Ginny very well, but she was reputed to be sort of crazy and very talkative. She was a rookie bass drum, but in the same year as Hinata. For a while, she had thought that Ginny and Sasuke were dating, but it seemed that that wasn't the case.

"Hey, Sas, Ginny," Hinata said, while Sakura raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey, Hinata, Sakura," Ginny said, while stretching her arms above her head. Sasuke nodded to both of them, but smiled slightly when he saw Hinata. Something seemed to be weighing on his mind.

Before any more pleasantries could be exchanged, Sakura glanced at her cellphone. "Oh, crap! The guard starts running in two minutes. I've got to go, guys!"

Sakura jogged away, not giving a single look back while she ran to catch up with her section. Hinata supposed that if Sakura was going to be section leader, she probably should be on time.

Hinata turned to Sasuke. "So how was the practice for the battery?"

"It wasn't easy," he said, Ginny nodding along with his statement, "but then of course it never is. It's band practice. It isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world."

"Ain't that true," Ginny said, laughing.

Hinata nodded. They headed to the assembly hall. Hinata grabbed her clarinet and made her way onto the field. Ginny talked while they walked. Hinata would add a few comments and laugh when it was funny, but Sasuke remained silent. He was even less of a morning person than Hinata was. They made their way onto the grass field, where they split off. Hinata made her way towards the other winds, while Sasuke and Ginny headed to the battery. As Hinata said goodbye and headed away, she noticed that Sasuke and Ginny were joined by another band member—the one with red hair that had watched her yesterday. The only thing different about him were his clothes and the bandage that he had over his tattoo on his forehead. Hinata looked away.

She moved over to where the other clarinets were. It was a general, unwritten rule that the sections within the winds put their stuff together before practice. Hinata placed her clarinet and water jug down on the wet grass, but was careful to balance her bag on top of her clarinet and her water jug. She didn't want it to get wet.

Since she had a couple minutes before practice started, Hinata headed over to where Naruto and Haley, a veteran tuba player who looked vaguely Hispanic, stood talking. "Hey guys."

Naruto raised a hand in greeting. "Hey, Hinata. Where you been? I've seen you about as often as I've seen Gaara, and I've already lectured him about that."

"Well, I've been busy with clarinet stuff and my job, you know . . ."

"Has Kiba been pushin' his work on you again?" Naruto insisted, pushing his hand through his spiked blond hair in frustration. "Because I told you that you need to stop letting him walk all over you!"

Haley placed a hand on Naruto's arm. "I'm all for a good guy fight, but I think that you should calm down. It is _way_ too early in the morning for you to be talking so loud."

Naruto only shrugged. "I guess that I'm just a morning person."

Hinata resisted the urge to rub her temples, partly because it would be rude, partly because she knew that it wouldn't help.

Before anyone could say anything else, the red golf cart that Rock Lee drove pulled onto the field. There were two golf carts for the band. One that the drum major, Rock Lee, drove, which carried the met and the yardline markers and way too many staff people in the back. There was another green John Deere one that some of the staff drove around to carry injured kids or to go get popsicles and stuff like that.

Lee drove the red golf cart on the field with abandon but control. The red golf cart was often called the Mexican Golf Cart by some of the cruder baritone players. Because, and I quote, "there's way too many people in way too little space." Hinata sighed. Oh, mild racism. Why teenage guys found it funny, she would never understand. She just felt vaguely insulted, and she wasn't even Hispanic. Haley, on the other hand, seemed like she was going to pop a blood vessel every time she heard the joke. The girl had a quick temper and a quicker tongue. Hinata always wondered how Naruto managed to control his section. But no one could say that he didn't do a good job.

As soon as the golf cart came to a stop, Lee was the first one out, grabbing the yardline markers and going to set them up. The second person was Neji, the lead staff person, who looked at the band carefully before shouting.

"What do you guys think that you're doing? Run, you maggots, run!"

With that, the band and the battery were off. The guard ran fifteen minutes before the winds and battery, and as for the front ensemble . . . well, Hinata actually had no idea where they ran. But she knew that they did. Everyone ran their two laps in band.

Hinata was one of the slowest runners in the band, but she wasn't teased for it. After all, she was a better-than-average player and marcher in band, which were the things that really mattered, so she wouldn't get teased for something like that. Hinata may have been slow, but she paced herself. She still remembered that asthma that she had.

Running slow gave her a lot of time to think, because she definitely didn't want to think about running. Hinata hated running with a passion. The fiery passions of hell.

Usually, in year past, the drum major would run in front of them and the rest of the band would follow. And then the drum major would stop and the rest of the band would stop. However, that practice had stopped as soon as Rock Lee became drum major. After the first few practices, the staff had decided that it would be a lot less hazardous to the band's health if they just ran two laps. So that's what they did. Because, for Pete's sake, when they had ran the old way, Rock Lee had lapped the entire band, including Sasuke Uchiha, the well-known fastest runner in band . . . twice. It wasn't pretty. Sasuke had bruised pride for days.

So now they just ran two laps, and Lee didn't run at all. Hinata thought that it was probably to help the band's esteem. Because there was very few ways to feel good about yourself while being lapped for the second time by a bushy-browed, hyperactive idiot who gave too many speeches about youth.

Leading the pack that was the Konoha Marching Band was Sasuke and Gaara. They ran side by side, and while it seemed like they weren't speaking, Hinata could tell that they were having a conversation out of the corners of their mouths. They finished running a half a lap before anyone else. A few feet behind them, Naruto ran. Hinata had stories of Naruto and Sasuke's freshman year when they used to take running as a competitive challenge and they would race each other around the field only to finish at the exact same time. However, in all the time that Hinata had known both Sasuke and Naruto, she had always seen that few feet between them. These days, Naruto let Sasuke take the victory in the running and simply ran behind him, maintaining that distance that they always had between them.

All that Hinata could ever get out of anyone in band if that they had a fall out at the end of their freshman year, right before their sophomore year in band, just before Hinata had joined band. And the more that she heard about their relationship, the more she wondered if anyone actually knew what had happened between the two of them.

Hinata was one of the last ones to stop and grab water. No one talked as she approached. They were all bent over and drinking water, except for a few select members, like Gaara and Sasuke, who were chatting about something or nothing. As Hinata watched them, she caught Gaara's eyes again and turned away before she could blush like an idiot.

Before any of them had caught their breath, Neji pulled out a drumstick and the purple gock block, beating on it loudly a few times, waking up anyone within a two mile radius. The band muttered darkly as they made their way out onto the field with their instruments while the battery left to go stretch with the pit.

"I have a few things that Neji can do with that stick," Haley murmured darkly as she made her way out with her sousaphone on her good shoulder. The people around her laughed.

Hinata generally thought that tuba players had a good shoulder and a bad shoulder. The bad shoulder was the one that had the sousaphone on it during practice and their good shoulder was the one that didn't. Their good shoulder was their right one.

Except for Naruto. He just had two bad shoulders. He also was no judge of pain, considering that a lot of the time he would just randomly collapse on the field because his shoulder gave out.

Neji hit the gock block again, louder this time.

Hinata wasn't the only one who groaned.

* * *

Hinata and the rest of the band stumbled into the assembly hall an hour and a half later. While putting away her clarinet and equipment, Hinata turned to Tenten and Stella, who had caught up with her immediately after practice.

"That was cruel and unusual punishment. What kind of madman makes us do full-field across-the-floors at 200 clicks? My insane cousin, that's who!" Hinata wasn't one to fume, but sometimes Neji and his good-for-you exercises got on her nerves.

Sakura and Tenten groaned right along with Hinata. Sakura placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We feel your pain as well, Hinata. Kurenai's really pushing us hard this year."

"I've found that that's the general consensus about the step. I guess that Asuma decided to kick it up a notch this year."

"Which means a lot more pain for us," Tenten added, rubbing her already sore shoulder. "I swear that they are going to run out of ice this year with all the injuries that are running rampant."

"Yeah, Ashley already has a sprained ankle."

"Ashley . . ." Hinata murmured, trying to put a name to a face. "Oh, yeah, she's in flag line, right?"

Sakura and Tenten nodded. Hinata put the rest of her stuff down and looked around. "Well, guys, since breakfast isn't out yet, I'm going back to the cabin to change my shoes before morning block. Why don't you guys grab us a table?"

The two guard girls smiled and agreed, and before Hinata left, she could hear the two of them joined by Temari, who sat down at the round table.

The camp was pretty empty, considering that most everyone was in the assembly hall, waiting for food. Hinata headed towards Casper 1, wanting to get out of her squelching shoes. Since the grass was so wet that morning from the dew, Hinata was literally leaving watery footprints in her wake. As Hinata got into the commons area of the cabin, she wasted no time in getting rid of her socks and shoes. She changed into her good blue tennis shoes and warm socks. Before she left, she stretched out on the couch for another moment.

Hinata was alone in the cabin. The buddy system had been abandoned by the band a few years back, so the rules were now basically "go do whatever the hell you want, but if you do anything stupid, by the gods there will be major consequences."

Hinata didn't really mind being alone. She used to be a stuttering mess when she was younger, and that limited that amount of friends that she had the ability to make. Her stuttering problem had disappeared once she had joined band, but it still came back when she was nervous. She was more outgoing with her friends, she didn't blush and hide in front of Naruto anymore. Of course, that role seemed to have switched to Gaara _for no adequately explained reason_; she was kind of upset with her subconscious at the moment. But she wasn't the shy little girl that she used to be. She was strong now.

Hinata decided that she had stalled long enough. It was about time that she got back to her friends and her band life. But she still needed those reprieves that allowed her to get away from all of the drama for a while.

As Hinata walked out, she decided to check the time on her phone. When she unlocked her cell, she found that she had nineteen missed calls and two voicemails. Damn that her phone was from the stone age of 2006. It didn't even have sticking caller I.D. At least it didn't look like a brick.

She clicked on the voicemails first, thinking that if it was truly important it would be in a voice message. She placed the phone up to her ear, and from the moment that she heard the voice, she sank down against the wall and placed her head in her knees. She didn't want to listen to this. Yet, strangely, she couldn't put the voice down.

"Hinata . . . Hinata, this has been the eighth time that I've called. I don't know what you're doing and I hope that it's nothing that will disgrace the family. I mean, if you're out doing drugs with your friends, at least don't get caught. The Hyuuga is a prestigious business and it won't be undone by my no-good daughter. After all, there was a reason that I kicked you out of the house. Anyway, I'm not actually calling because I want to. Your mother is forcing me to, saying that in light of the recent circumstances, I should talk to you, but I don't really think so. I mean I've talked to Hanabi already so I think that this phone call is redundant, considered that you were denied to be my heir a long time ago because of your weakness, but anyway . . ."

Suddenly the voice stopped. Hinata recognized only vaguely that it was because she had dropped the phone.

Why now? Why would he have to call now? Her father had never cared about her before, so why would he care about her now? And Hinata didn't care. Her home had been hell. She had been kicked out a long time ago. She never wanted to go back, not even if her father begged her.

Pain . . . his voice brought all of that pain back. She had disappointed him time and time again . . . She was unworthy to be a part of his family . . . Her breathing suddenly became ragged . . . Didn't she see that she would always be second best to her younger sister, who was clearly better than her in everything? Hinata had let her grades fall just the slightest bit . . . she would be punished, she knew. It was only a few percentage points, but when she got home, she knew that there would be a lecture from her father and a wish that the pain would just go away . . . Suddenly she felt as if she couldn't get enough air.

In the back of her mind, part of her told her that she was having an asthma attack. But that part was overshadowed by the memories of her past. All the memories that she had tried to suppress so that she could go on living her life as if nothing had happened.

Be perfect . . . Always be perfect. . .

"Are you alright?"

Somehow, a voice cut through the darkness. It was clear and strong, and it brought her back into the present. She had been gone for a long time. Her friends would be looking for her.

" . . . No . . ." Hinata got out, between her short, shallow breaths. She kept her head between her knees, trying to get the blood to her head. She needed her inhaler! But she had left it back in her bag, which she had left in the assembly hall.

"What do you need me to do?" the voice said carefully.

". . . asth—asthma . . . attack . . . nurse . . . please . . ."

"You need me to take you to Tsunade?" the voice said again, and Hinata finally recognized through her oxygen-deprived state that it was a male voice, and it wasn't one that she recognized.

Hinata nodded once.

If she had any control over the situation, she would have protested when the stranger gathered her up in his arms bridal style. But as she had no control, she let him carry her and focused on keeping her eyes closed and regulating her breathing. Of course, that didn't help too much. She still needed her inhaler.

But before she closed her eyes, she caught a glimpse of vivid red hair.

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

**Gock Block: the most annoying thing every concieved. Not really but still. It's a piece of plastic that's shaped like a brick that's designed to make lots and lots of noise when hit. It's like a cowbell. But plastic. And more annoying. Very, very, very annoying. Especially when it's making us do stuff. The staff uses it like a make-shift metranome.**

**Met: short for a metranome. A metranome is a device that keeps the pulse, beat, whatever. My band has a lot of metranomes. But we always have one out on the field, way back field. The drum major controls it from his/her podium and uses it to keep the band in time. Of course, during performances, the met goes away. **

**200 clicks: short for 200 beats per minute. It's a setting on a metranome. I have a dare for all of you. Go onto some internet web site and find a metranome. Set it to 200. That's how fast we have to march on some days. It SUCKS.**

**Across-the-floors: this is a marching band exercise that my band personally uses. You don't really need to know what it is. It's not super hard, but at 200 clicks, everything is hard. **

**I think that that's everything. **

**Anyway, how'd you like that ending? Entertaining, no? Well, it's fun for me! Amazingly, I didn't die last time, so hopefully I'll be okay this time. **

**On a seperate note, I'm going to be really busy from now on. All the summer homework that I've procrastinated on, and school starts in less than two weeks! So I probably won't be able to update as quickly anymore. But I will continue to update at least weekly. If I'm not able to, I'll at least give you a heads up. **

**Haha. So how'd you guys like that cliffhanger? ; )**

**Again, my readers are so going to kill me . . . **

**~ Shard of Freedom**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Peoples! I have a BIG announcement! **

**Friends, companions, reviewers, story-alerters, favoriters, readers, and anyone else who cares what I'm saying: **

**I will now, and until the end of time, update this story on THURSDAYS. As in each week, I will add another chapter onto this story. ON THURSDAY. I'll try to tell you if I change the schedule in any way, shape or form. **

**Anyway, welcome to chapter five. More fun, less drama. For all of you saying "Aw, I liked the drama!" I'll have you know that the next chapter will be twice as dramatic as any chapter before! Well, maybe. But it will be dramatic! Dramatic enough to have its own theme music! **

**Glossary at the end of the chapter just like before! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't have to write disclaimers.**

* * *

Chapter Five 

Complications 

Konoha High Marching Band Information Form

Name: _Temari Sabaku _

Grade: _Senior_

Age: _18_

Instrument: _Vibraphone_

Joined Band: _Senior Year_

Years of Experience: _None_

Hobbies: _Marital Arts, Music, Taking care of the house, chess, etc. _

Favorite Color: _Purple _

Favorite Food:_ Anything that Gaara makes _

Favorite TV Show: _We don't really have TV_

Why You Joined Band: _To watch over my little brother_

* * *

Temari walked through the doors, out of the assembly hall. She would have to be back there soon enough, since the pit held their practice out on the front "porch" of the assembly hall, which was actually just a shaded piece of concrete.

Breakfast was halfway over, and Temari was being sent out to go find Hinata, who still hadn't shown up from breakfast. Her friends weren't too worried about her. Hinata could take care of herself. Temari had just offered to go because she had to change her dew-soaked shoes before the next three-hour practice. Although there was much speculation, the pit did actually run their two laps, out of common sight. But it wasn't actually two laps. Just like what the band used to do before Lee became drum major, the pit followed their section leader as he ran.

If he ran.

Honestly, Temari had only known the guy for maybe two months, and she had already decided that she was either going to kill him or respect him, because she never knew that someone could be so god-awfully obnoxious while doing absolutely nothing. Either way, it ticked Temari off. She was no slouch, and she had a complete lack of respect for those that were. Shikamaru Nara was a slouch.

Strangely, running with the rest of the front ensemble every morning was one responsibility that he didn't skip out on. Not that he missed any practices or anything, but . . . ugh! It still made her mad.

Shikamaru always ran in front of the pit and always made sure that no one was left behind, even the young eighth grader, Flannery, who every knew just as Flan, or if they were being especially annoying, Flan-Flan. Temari grudgingly respected him for the way that he treated the front ensemble. He never left anyone behind, he never was too strict with anyone, and he never yelled or got mad— even towards Jason, another marimba player who had pretty much made it his life goal to try to be pit section leader, even though Shikamaru had a year's experience on him. And Temari had been tempted to punch the guy out a few times, and she was just a bystander to the conversation.

When she phrased it like that, it made Shikamaru seem like the perfect leader.

But everyone knew that he was lazy. _Everyone knew._ It was no well-concealed fact. Shikamaru wasn't the kind of guy that would pretend to be a hard-worker and then do absolutely nothing for the band. he was openly honest about the fact that yes, he was a lazy bastard, and if you came up to him with a request, he would sigh and say that it was "too troublesome." Therefore, everyone would always be mildly surprised when he actually would do whatever was asked. It was always the same routine—Shikamaru would get a request, he would be lazy about it, but in the end, he would actually do it, despite the mass amounts of complaining that would come between the steps.

And Temari didn't know why, but she found that his general personality to be majorly annoying. And very attractive.

But that just made her annoyed all the more.

Temari shook her head. God, she had to get him out of her head. Especially the fact that they were supposed to always look to the center marimba for the time so she had a perfectly good excuse to stare at him all the time . . . or that despite the fact that he had a ponytail shaped like a pineapple, he was ungodly attractive . . .

Temari slapped herself. _Hard. _

She wasn't here to get a boyfriend! Or any friends, for that matter, although she had already made some. Temari was here for one reason, and one reason only. To watch over her little brother. Okay, little by about three minutes, but still little. And they were only here because their asshole of a parental figure decided that Gaara needed a positive outlet for the anger problems that _he didn't have._

Sometimes, Temari was convinced that her life was ten times harder than it should have been.

Gaara tried to make it easier on her. He had never been one for emotion, but Temari knew that he cared. Just before they had moved to Konoha from Suna their sophomore year, Gaara had started taking over the cooking duties from Temari, and Temari was convinced that it was the best thing that she had ever tasted. Gaara was a great cook, even if he was extremely modest about it.

As Temari made her way towards her cabin, Casper 1, she saw Hinata. At first she was going to wave to the girl, but something inside of Temari gave her a warning signal. "Wait," it said. "Something's wrong."

Maybe it was the fact that Hinata was outside the cabin, against the wall, next to all the towels that were drying, with her head resting on her knees. Or it was the uneven shudders that were racking her shoulders. Or it was the broken cellphone that was next to her. Whatever it was, something was wrong.

Before Temari could approach the girl, Gaara came out from one of the cabins and made his way over to Hinata. From the way that he was headed, he was probably leaving to go back to the assembly hall, but he saw the upset girl first. Temari was sure that Gaara would be able to handle it, but she was curious, so she moved slightly so that she was at an angle to see, but not to be seen.

Gaara squatted down in front of her. For a moment, he reached out a calloused hand, but stopped and retracted it just an inch from touching Hinata's black hair. Instead he moved closer and asked in a calm, soothing voice, "Are you alright?"

Temari was just the tiniest bit shocked at Gaara's tone. Gaara had always been kind to people, but he had never outwardly showed it. But one of his most helpful traits was the fact that if you were friends with Gaara, he would do whatever it took to protect you. He was outstandingly loyal to his friends, occasionally to strangers. But as far as Temari knew, the two of them didn't even know each other. Did they?

It took a long time for Hinata to answer, like she was having a hard time forming the words. " . . . No . . ."

"What do you need me to do?" Gaara asked carefully.

" . . . asth-asthma . . . attack . . . nurse . . . please . . ."

"You need me to take you to Tsunade?"

Hinata nodded once.

Then Gaara did something that she never thought that he would do. He got down on one knee and picked the girl up bridal style, one arm beneath her shoulders, and one arm beneath her knees. Before Temari could do anything, Gaara had taken the girl to the staff cabin, Casper 2. Temari didn't follow. Once she had gathered herself, she went inside the cabin and replaced her wet shoes with dry new ones. When she exited the cabin, she was just in time to see Gaara leave the staff cabin—without the girl in his arms.

Temari closed the door of the girl's cabin and crossed her arms. "So, Gaara. I saw that. Is she okay?"

Gaara looked a little surprised to see her there, and while it didn't show on his face, it showed in his eyes. He nodded. "Yeah. Tsunade says that she'll be fine. Hinata had an extra inhaler with the nurse, so she'll be fine."

"That's good," Temari said, "but I'm more concerned about you. Why did you help her?"

Gaara looked like he was confused with the question. He brushed his fingers against the bandages tattoo on his forehead. "Why shouldn't I have helped her?"

Temari sighed. "Oh, come on, don't give me that kind of answer. There has to be a reason."

Gaara shrugged. "I guess that it's just because I think that she doesn't deserve to have any more pain." Gaara looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn't.

"What do you mean by that?"

"No comment."

"But Gaara—"

"No comment."

Temari knew that she shouldn't say anything else. She was the older, but she had always felt like Gaara was more mature, more powerful and more logical. If he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't push. Yet.

While Temari was silent, Gaara knelt down next to the outside wall of Casper 1. He reached down and picked up the broken phone. He snapped the battery back in and slipped the back cover on. As Gaara stood back up, he slipped the phone into his pocket.

"Why do you need her phone, Gaara?"

"It still works. I'll return it to her when she's better."

Temari crossed her arms. "You know that I could just give it back to her."

Gaara looked back at her. "I know. But I want to return it to her," Gaara said calmly. "And I'm sure that she'll want a reason to talk to me again."

With that, Gaara slipped away from Temari, walking over towards Sasuke and Ginny, his friends who were waiting, and she knew that she couldn't get any more answers out of him without causing a scene.

* * *

The morning block went slowly. Temari and the rest of the pit remained on the porch, going through lockjaw over and over and over again. The marimbas were in the front of the pit, the vibes behind them, with the synth players off to one side. Flannery, the girl who played rack, was on the other side of the vibes, opposite to the synth players. Temari spent nearly all of practice staring at Shikamaru. The technical reason was that they had to watch him for changes in tempo, but the unofficial reason was that Temari just wanted to figure this guy out.

From where the pit was on the porch, Temari could see the band and the guard from across the road going through drill. Sakura seemed distracted, but that was probably because Hinata hadn't shown up to practice yet. Temari had sent Sakura had a text message saying the Hinata had had an asthma attack, but that didn't seem to lessen Sakura's worries.

When lunch came around, Sakura was relieved to find that Hinata had left the nurse's office and was sitting at their usual table, waiting for them. "Oh my god, Hina, thank god that you're all right! I was so worried about you! Did you get any of my text messages?"

Temari stayed silent as Hinata shook her head. "No. I must have left it back in the cabin."

"Oh, okay. But don't scare me like that, Hina!"

Hinata nodded and gave a smile, but Temari could tell that it was fake. Gaara's words came back into her mind. _"I think that she doesn't deserve to have any more pain." _What was the pain that Gaara spoke of? And would either of them ever tell her about it?

She highly doubted it.

Instead of sitting down with Hinata and the rest of her friends, Temari opted on an empty table. She wasn't going to be one to deal with all the fussing that Sakura was going to do while she worried about Hinata. They were good friends, but sometimes Temari thought that they were a little too carefree. Temari had always believed in the importance of heavier thoughts.

Shikamaru sat down in the seat across from her unexpectedly. Temari resisted the urge to groan. Why did he have to show up? She already had enough conflicting emotions.

"What do you want?" Temari said testily.

Shikamaru placed his hands behind his head. "Why do I have to want something?"

"Don't be sassy with me, smart guy."

"Ah, troublesome." Shikamaru waved a hand over to Chouji and Ino, who automatically dragged Kiba over. Temari groaned.

"Listen, tough guy, if this table is going to become a pow-wow for you and your friends, I think that I'll just leave you to your rainbows and friendship speeches." Temari didn't mean to sound as cruel as she did, but that was something that just came naturally to her in dire situations. And she wasn't exactly thinking straight with Shikamaru looking at her constantly. At least she wasn't some blushing shy girl.

"Listen, girly," Shikamaru said, "I've got no beef with you, but you clearly have some with me. Now, how about you and I settle this in a civilized manner?"

"What, do you want a fight?" Temari said while sizing Shikamaru up. She had taken martial arts since she was a kid—all of the Sabaku siblings had—but he had a good three inches on her and a lot more muscle mass.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "No. I would rather not fight you."

Temari grinned slyly. "Why? You scared?"

"Immensely. Besides, I would never hit a girl. That's not what a man should do." Shikamaru kicked his feet onto the table. "Something a little more witty. How about a game of chess?"

"Chess?" Temari said skeptically.

Shikamaru smirked. "You _do _how to play right?"

Temari fumed. "Of course I know how to play chess! What kind of idiot do you take me for?"

"No comment."

Ouch. Okay, she had opened herself up for that one, but she didn't expect him to actually say it. Now she had wounded pride. Which meant that she had no choice but to accept his offer.

"Fine."

"What?" Shikamaru said, looking over at her.

"Fine," Temari said again. "Let's have a game."

"Great." Shikamaru pulled a worn brown-and-white portable chess board out of his bag and onto the table. It folded down the middle, but it was real wood and in rather good condition. All the pieces were taken care of. It wasn't the best chess set that Temari had ever seen, but it was nice. Shikamaru started setting up the board.

"White or black?"

"White."

Shikamaru started handing her pieces. As they did, their hands would touch occasionally. Shikamaru showed no reaction, but Temari blushed every time their fingers brushed. Oh god, she had to stop her feelings before she actually developed a crush for the pineapple headed idiot. When the board was set, Temari was still going through her thoughts, so Shikamaru had to look up and say, "White moves first."

"I know," Temari said calmly, her cheeks slightly flushed from embarrassment.

The game continued for nearly all of the lunch period. Eventually they had to pause the game to go get food, but once they were back, it continued once more. Shikamaru's friends watched with varying levels of interest. Chouji was more interested in his food. Ino, who seemed to be a strict vegetarian, was most interested in the game while she asked Kiba questions from time to time about the game. Kiba watched intently. After a while, Naruto came over to watch, but left quickly, saying something about ice for his shoulder.

When it reached nearly the point where they should get ready for practice, Temari looked over the chess board. Their pieces were so intertwined with each other that you could no longer truly tell which side belong to black and which to white. Temari had to admit, Shikamaru was good. Really good. As in probably better than her, and she was the best chess player that she knew. Shikamaru must have just had a mind for strategy.

Temari made another move before glancing at her cell phone. "I think that we're going to have to continue this game after afternoon block. After all the section leader can't be late, right?" She said, teasing him.

"Oh, I won't be," Shikamaru said before staring at the board intently, a hand on his chin. He had done that same position many times during the game. And seeing the normally lazy marimba focus so hard on something kind of made Temari like him even more.

Shikamaru smiled slightly as he moved his knight into position. Temari's eyes widened as she looked at the board.

"Checkmate."

"Damn it!"

Shikamaru chuckled as he placed his hands behind his head once more. "Looks like I win this round."

"I demand a rematch!"

Shikamaru started putting away his chess set. "Any time, Temari. You're the best chess player that I've met in a while."

Temari liked the compliment, but focused more on the fact that he used her name. That was the first time that he had ever used her name. Usually they exchanged insults of "girly" and "crybaby." Of course, Temari usually alternated between her nicknames.

Shikamaru got up from his chair and slipped the chess set into his bag. Temari got up right after him, carrying her trash.

"But," Shikamaru said as they got up, "I was quite impressed with that funny maneuver that you did with your bishop to get rid of my knight."

"Oh, yeah, Gaara taught me that trick. But I changed it a little bit. You should see Gaara play, he's pretty good himself . . ."

As they walked out of the dining hall, talking about chess and whether or not it was a better game than shogi, Chouji and Ino looked on after the two of them.

"Look at them," Ino said, "caught up in their little world of strategies and tactics. I would say that it's romantic, but it's Shikamaru, so I wouldn't take it that far. He probably means everything that he says literally."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Chouji added in. "Shikamaru complemented her on playing chess. He never compliments anyone on playing chess."

Ino got a different glint her eyes just then. "Oh, really."

"Don't you go start to play matchmaker again," Chouji warned. "Shikamaru was contemplating using sharp objects on you after the last time."

But Chouji only sighed when he caught the look on Ino's face. He rolled his eyes.

"Great. There's no stopping her now. . . There's going to be one hell of mess after this blows over."

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

_**Lockjaw: **_**a really annoying pit exercise where they do scales in a circle of fifths over and over and over again. Again, it's really annoying. **

_**Synth: **_**band slang for the sythesizers. They're like electric keyboards. Oh, wait, they are electric keyboards. ; ) **

_**Rack: **_**it's the instrument in pit that contains many other instruments, like cowbells, vibroslaps, chimes, gongs, etc. etc. etc. **

**I think that that's it for the glossary. It wasn't really a big band chapter. Soooo . . . what'd you guys think? I liked the chapter. It was a break from the doom-and-gloom. I made Shikamaru play chess instead of shogi because right now they're an American marching band located in the Midwest. What are the odds that both Shikamaru and Temari would know shogi? That and the fact that I don't actually know how to play shogi. Maybe I should learn. I do know how to play go after all . . . **

**Anyway, the next chapter will be out next Thursday. It will be in the point of view of our loveable pink haired guard girl, Sakura! **

**And dramatic theme music! **

**~ Shard of Freedom **


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: It has been a week, my faithful friends! As such, here is chapter six. As I have promised, this chapter gets theme music. As for what that theme music is, I have no clue! You decide. I personally wrote this while listening to "With Mila's Divine Protection" from Fire Emblem. Ah, the glories of youtube. **

**Anyway, this chapter is in Sakura's point of view. I don't think that there will be a glossary at the end. There doesn't seem to be a lot of band terms in this chapter. If you don't understand, just tell me. **

**As for content, I think that this brings in the last of our major characters. The exposition is done! Now on with the rising action! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, talk to an English teacher. Ugh, school is getting to me already . . .**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, I wouldn't run out of ideas for disclaimers.**

* * *

Chapter Six

Connections, Helpful and Harmful

7: 12 a.m.

To: Hinata

From: Sakura

_Hey, where r u?_

7: 18 a.m.

To: Hinata

From: Sakura

_Hina? U there? _

7: 23 a.m.

To: Hinata

From: Sakura

_Okay, we're sending Temari after you. Of course, it would be a lot easier if you would just ANSWER YOUR PHONE! _

7:31 a.m.

To: Hinata

From: Sakura

_Hina, r u ok? I'm really starting to worry about you! Did something happen to you? _

7: 41 a.m.

To: Tenten, Temari, Stella

From: Sakura

_Hey, have you seen Hinata? She didn't show up for breakfast and I'm really worried about her. _

7:42 a.m.

To: Sakura

From: Tenten

_No, I haven't seen her. Is everything okay?_

7:43 a.m.

To: Sakura

From: Stella

_Not at all. She might still be in the cabin. _

7: 43 a.m.

To: Sakura

From: Temari

_Don't worry, Sakura, I found her. I think she had an asthma attack. She's with Tsunade right now. _

7: 50 a.m.

To: Hinata

From: Sakura

_Hina, text me when you get this. I'm really worried about you._

* * *

Sakura felt like a terrible friend. Terrible. All through the entire morning block she was worried and upset because she wasn't sure where Hinata was. Hinata wasn't answering her phone, but every water break, Sakura would pull it out and stare at it, wondering where Hinata was. Temari had told her that Hinata had had an asthma attack. Instead of relieving her fears, it only added to them. Hinata hadn't had a stress-induced asthma attack since her freshman year, and unless she was running a mile across camp, that's the only kind of asthma attack that could have happened.

Sakura knocked her water jug back as she thought. _Hina? What's going on? What happened to you?_

Sakura had met Hinata in the eighth grade. Sakura had been outgoing, energetic, and completely in love with Sasuke Uchiha. Hinata was shy, calm, pretty, and the only girl in the class whom Sasuke Uchiha would talk to. So when they had met, it wasn't exactly out of the good of Sakura's heart. She mainly wanted to one-up Ino. She hadn't expected to become best friends with the shy stuttering girl who seemed way too mature for her age.

When Sakura had noticed that something was wrong with Hinata her freshman year, she had confronted her. Her best friend was an emotional wreck! Hinata was stuttering even worse than usual, she had taken to studying into the late hours of the night just to raise her grade point average one tenth of a point, and from what Sakura could tell, had nearly had an asthma attack every other week. It wasn't healthy for her. When she had asked about it, the only answer that she would get was that Hinata had had family problems. After a few weeks of the same answer, Sakura stopped trying. Hinata would break down in tears when she pressed.

Looking back on it now, Sakura thought that things would have been better for both Hinata and their friendship if she had pushed for answers back in freshman year. Even now, two years later, Hinata still didn't talk about it. Sakura had only assumed that things had worked out—Hinata went to school more often, she lost her stuttering problem and her preoccupation with getting good grades, and her asthma attacks went away week by week. It seemed as if Hinata's freshman year was nothing but a bad dream. By sophomore year of band, Hinata was back to her cheery, blushing self, although she had become more outgoing. She smiled and laughed and things became normal again.

Of course, things had changed—Hinata no longer talked about anyone in her family other than Neji and occasionally Hanabi, Hinata dropped a few of her AP classes for honors, Hinata stopped inviting people over to her house and started driving her beat-up pickup truck to school in place of her dad's nice car—but it had never been anything significant. Just small things that no one would have noticed to be out of the ordinary. Her family was clearly a sore spot. Maybe she just had too much work to do with band and everything. Maybe her house was going through renovations or Hanabi had crashed the family car in a misguided driving practice. There was nothing truly suspicious about Hinata's behavior.

But after freshman year, Sakura had decided to become Hinata's protector. She had been worried when Hinata had gotten that job at Subway on the shady side of town and Sakura always came to see her on nights that she was working late. Recently, she was worried about Hinata's new fascination with Gaara, the Demon. But no matter what, she would not let Hinata get hurt. Now Hinata had had an asthma attack and Sakura was unable to help her at all. It made Sakura feel useless. It made Sakura feel . . . alone.

Sakura shook those ideas out of head as she sat her water jug back down. It was the popsicle break, so they had fifteen minutes to eat tooth-rotting sugary goodness before they had to get back out there and work for another hour.

Usually, she would be sitting in the shade with Hinata and the rest of the gang, but she just had too much on her mind. Sakura hadn't even gotten off the sidelines yet. Other than the battery, who always ate their popsicles away from the rest of the group, she was one of the only people not crowding under the few trees there were on the other side of the road to get out of the heat.

Something cold hit the top of her head. Sakura looked up to find Ino standing over her, hitting her with a green ice-pop. Sakura smiled only slightly before taking the popsicle. As she did that, Ino sat down next to her.

There was a moment of silence before Ino spoke.

"You okay?"

Sakura ripped open her green popsicle with her teeth, while Ino ate part of her purple one. "I don't know what you mean."

Ino rolled her eyes. "We may have hated each other since we were kids, but I know you a lot better than you think. A lot better."

Sakura said nothing. She and Ino had never had a good relationship, and these select moments of kinship wouldn't stop Sakura from laughing when Ino hit herself with her saber or prevent Ino from accidentally tripping Sakura with her flag bag. Rivals, occasionally friends, always fighting. That's just how things were.

After another few seconds of silence, Ino spoke up again, her voice irritated this time. "So are you going to tell me or not?"

"Hinata's not back yet," Sakura said suddenly before eating other bit of her popsicle.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She had an asthma attack and she's not back yet."

Ino seemed to process that for a moment. "She's going to be fine. Don't worry. And don't beat yourself up. It's not like you're her guardian or anything."

"I've always protected her though," Sakura said somewhat moodily.

Ino sighed. "Fine. You've protected her. Now it's time for me to be the heartless bitch and give you the straight up truth. If you're her protector—like her parent or something—there's going to be a time when she's going to drop you like a bad habit in favor of another protector."

"What?"

"Eventually, everyone moves on. Hinata will find someone who can protect her better than you ever could and she'll stay with them, whether it be a boyfriend or a husband or a friend. And while you won't be left behind, you need to find someone else to protect who will protect you in turn."

"Wow."

Ino raised a blond eyebrow. "What?"

"That was really deep, considering it came from you." Sakura ate her popsicle nonchalantly.

Ino hit Sakura on the back of her head and walked away, murmuring about "you try to do something nice and look where it gets you."

Sakura didn't mean to be so mean, but she needed to get away from that subject. She didn't need to hear that Hinata was going to leave her behind. She didn't need to talk about those subjects. Sakura needed to stay on the ground where she was, exactly where she was, and nothing would ever change. That was why Sakura never got a serious boyfriend. She was on a right path. A safe path, a solid path that wouldn't change. She didn't need to have someone to change her. She didn't need "her other half." She needed safety. She needed to know that the ground she was standing on was safe, and that it would always be there.

Sakura got up and threw the wrapper into the trash bag that Neji was holding. She made her way back to her water jug and took another quick swig. As Neji whipped out his gock block and hit it a few times, yelling, "Get a move on! Get back out there!" Sakura had just set her jug back down.

As Sakura ran back to where she had set down her rifle, she couldn't help but think about what Ino had said.

What if Hinata moved on, away from Sakura?

Sakura didn't think that it would be a bad thing, but Sakura had gotten used to her role of protector. It gave her a sense of accomplishment. But eventually, she would get over it.

A worse thought suddenly entered her mind.

What if she wasn't needed anymore?

That thought filled her with dread.

* * *

Sakura was so relieved when she saw Hinata had returned from the nurse's office. She bombarded Hinata with questions and made sure that she was okay. Sakura felt like she was overcompensating because she was so unsure of herself inside. Luckily, Hinata wasn't annoyed by her fussing. Temari was, so it was understandable when she had switched tables in favor of Shikamaru and his group of friends, which included Ino.

As she had worked her way through lunch, which was so questionable beef thing (honestly, no one was picky when it came to food. You ate it or you starved), Sakura was thinking about herself. Was losing her role as Hinata's protector that important to her? Maybe. She had been the one that Hinata had relied on for all those years. It did sort of hurt her to think that she would lose Hinata in that sense. But maybe it was for the best. It wasn't really right that Sakura had to protect Hinata. Hinata was sixteen after all. Sakura knew that Hinata could take care of herself. So what was she afraid of?

That she wasn't needed. Not in the framework of the world, not any person.

It was one of the main reasons that she volunteered at the hospital. It gave her a sense of belonging when she was needed by the patients and by the staff. That was where she had gotten to know Tsunade, the band's nurse, after all. She wanted to be needed.

Sakura threw her trash away and made sense of her thoughts.

She probably should let go of her strong attachment to Hinata little by little. It wasn't right that Sakura was so protective of Hinata, and it was just added to both her and Hinata's stress levels. And in a way, trying to protect Hinata would only hurt her in end.

When afternoon block came around, Sakura was in a much better mood. Perhaps Ino had really helped her when she had "been a heartless bitch and told the truth."

Sakura dropped her flag bag onto the field. Unlike the rest of the sections, who had their sectionals in the air conditioning or at least the shade, the guard was out on the field, learning more drill and work. But she was one of the first ones on the field. She must have left lunch earlier than she had thought. There were a couple other flag bags there, but the girls must have gone inside, because she was practically alone on the field.

Practically.

There was a man that she didn't recognize out on the grass, spinning a saber and demanding her attention like he owned it. Sakura was good at saber—it was her best—but even she couldn't pull off most of the moves that he was doing with that much grace. It was impressive. It also didn't hurt that he was very, very, very attractive. Actually, she hadn't seen someone so attractive to her since she had first fallen for Sasuke.

He had very pale skin, but it had some color from the time that he spent out in the sun. His hair was as black as a raven and fell just below his ears. His eyes were black and focused, and his face was full of sharp contours mixed with soft lines. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and black sweatpants that fell down to sensible white and blue tennis shoes. How he was wearing sweatpants in this heat, Sakura would never know. But he didn't seem to sweating strongly, and he wasn't even out of breath. He had a lot of lean muscle in his arms and his chest, she couldn't help but notice. After all, the white t-shirt wasn't really covering much.

Since there were no guys in guard, and she clearly didn't recognize him, Sakura could only assume that he was the illusive new guard tech who was supposed to show up for this practice.

When Sakura dropped her flag bag and water jug down on the field, the man turned to look at her, and once again she was struck by how hot he was. But while she could look, Sakura didn't really want anything that even seemed like a relationship. Even the word relationship was banned from her memory.

The man held the saber loosely in his hands while he looked to her. "You must be one of the guard girls, right?"

Sakura stretched her shoulders, comfortable in her own skin. "That'd be me. I'm Sakura Haruno. I'm the section leader of the guard."

He tilted his head in confusion, but his face still carried the slight smile that it had always had. "You look a little bit young to be section leader."

"Yeah, well, I'm seventeen. I'm a junior. I got the position because of my skills, not my rank."

The man gave an actual smile. Sakura saw how it changed his face. He looked younger, simpler, and, if it was possible, even more attractive. Yep, it was official. This guy was eye-candy.

"I know the feeling. I was section leader my junior year as well."

Sakura smiled. "Really?" She suddenly felt a sort of companionship with the man.

He nodded and spun the saber a few more times. It seemed to be habit. It just seemed natural in his hands. "Yes. I was the only guy in guard in Konoha Marching Band back then. Of course, considering the roster that I got from Kurenai, it doesn't seem like that has changed much."

"Nope. The band is just as unpopular as it was back then. It seems that the common consensus is that if you're a guy in guard, you're automatically assumed to be gay."

The man smiled sadly again. "Yes, I know that feeling. Too bad I'm not."

Sakura sat down next the man, right on the forty-five yard line. "That must have been hard for you when you were in high school."

He shrugged. "You work through it like you work through anything. I'm sure that things aren't easy for you either."

Sakura stiffened. How could he possibly know about all the thoughts that have been running through her mind? All the doubts that had surfaced over lunch and morning block still plagued the back of her mind. "What could you mean?" She asked, keeping her voice even.

"Don't worry," he said easily, his tone never changing. "I've not threatening you or anything. I can just tell that you've got a lot on your mind. If it makes you feel any better, I find you quite mature for your age."

"Thanks, I guess. Things have just been a little bit different since band camp started." Sakura shrugged.

"We've all got our shares of worries. God knows I'm not immune."

Sakura tilted her head to one side and looked up to him. "What are you worried about?"

He just smiled at her. But it was fake. Sakura had used such a smile quite a bit in her life. He didn't want to answer her question. Maybe it cut close to home. Sakura felt a little bit bad. Sometimes she just got a little too caught up in the conversation and forgot her tact.

"I'm sorry if I've offended you," Sakura said.

"No offense. Like you, I've got quite a bit on my mind. And if my worries are founded, then I'm sure that you'll find out sooner rather than later. He's never been really patient." He gave Sakura one of those epigamic smiles and Sakura had the urge to unravel the entire mystery that he was creating. Sakura was patient, but Sakura also loved to solve puzzles.

Sakura turned to look at the other girls arriving from the assembly hall, water jugs and flag bags in hand. "Well, looks like it's about time that we got back to actual work. I'm sure that the other girls will be very excited to meet you."

"You don't seem all that excited," he noted with a slight smile—a real smile.

Sakura got up from the ground. "Well, I'm not the type of girl to fall at the feet of the first attractive guy that I meet. I have more class than that."

"Good thing too. I might have gotten a bad first impression of you." He moved his saber to behind his back, stretching slightly. "Oh, I just realized that I haven't introduced myself. I'm Sai."

"Sai, huh? It suits you."

"Really, how so?"

"It's an enigma. Much like yourself."

With that, Sakura waved to her new guard tech before moving back to the other girls. She felt off around him, like that safe ground that she wanted to keep was still there, but wider and more transparent. She wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing. But she was aware of his eyes on her as she walked away.

Sakura decided that that was a good thing.

* * *

After afternoon block, Sakura quite literally dragged Sai away from the rest of the staff to come meet the rest of her friends. She didn't know why it was important, but she felt like she should show Sai other people in the band, people that meant something to her.

Like usual, Hinata's gang was crowded underneath the trees in the middle of the ring of cabins, sitting around a picnic table. People had always called them "Hinata's gang" not because Hinata was the leader or anything, but because they were all connected through Hinata. None of them would have met if it hadn't been for the black-haired girl. Sasuke would still be antisocial, they would have never met Ginny, Stella and Jamie wouldn't have even been close acquaintances. Things just connected.

Sai walked behind Sakura, the guard girl leading the way. "Sakura, are you sure you want me to meet your friends?"

"Sure," she said brightly. "And besides, you'll never meet them if you don't see them now. The guard staff usually doesn't get introduced to the rest of the band."

"Maybe that would be a good thing," Sai mumbled, but Sakura pretended not to hear. She had a feeling that it hadn't been meant for her ears.

Sakura waved to the rest of the gang as she approached. Hinata waved back. She was sitting on the grass, opposite to the picnic table. Sasuke was sitting against one of the trees, obscured by the end of the picnic table. Ginny was sitting on the bench next to Stella. Tenten was sitting on the table itself, retaping her flag. Jamie was on the grass, leaning against the bench. Hinata had a chem book in her lap. Despite the seniors' warning of how hard the class was, Hinata had decided to take a step up and take AP Chemistry, the hardest class offered in the high school. Which meant that she had a boat load of summer homework.

Sakura stood in front of the group. "Hey, guys. This is the new guard tech, Sai, 'kay?"

The girls of the group smiled, Ginny raised a hand in welcome, Sasuke didn't open his eyes from the relaxed nap-like position he was in, although he stiffened, acknowledging their presence.

Sakura turned back to Sai, who was looking confident, but a bit confused. "Okay, so the one with the chem book in Hinata, and she plays clarinet. You probably already know that Tenten's a flag. Stella and Jamie are flutes. Stella's a freshman and Jamie's a senior and the section leader. Ginny's in the battery. She plays a base drum. Now, the guy who's hiding underneath a tree—"

"You don't need to introduce me." Sasuke's voice cut across hers easily. "We're acquainted."

Sakura looked back to Sai, whose eyes had widened. His face had lost what little color that it had.

Sasuke got up from beneath the trees with an expression so cold that Sakura could feel the ice crystals forming.

"Sasuke . . ." Sai said softly. "I didn't know that you were still in band."

"Well, you don't know a lot of things, now do you?" Sasuke's voice held the comfort of an axe-murderer. "What's it been, three years?"

"Don't pretend like you don't know." Unlike before, Sai now spoke with the same ice that Sasuke had. "It's been a while."

Sai paused.

"Little brother."

* * *

**A/N: You all hate me now, right? I wonder what happens next . . . heehee ; ) **

**You'll find out when you're (seven days) older. **

**Next chapter will be out next Thursday, and in the point of view of Konoha's number-one knuckledheaded ninja! Of course, he's not exactly a ninja in this fic but . . . oh, you get my drift! For all of you GaaHina fans, it shall return (soon-ish!). For the moment, I'm going to mess around with Sasuke's life for a while. **

**I have sadly come to the realization that this fic is going to be very, very, very long. After all, this is a two week long band camp, and chapter six is only on the afternoon practice of the first day! Looks like I'm in for the long haul guys! Yeah! **

**On a more depressing note, I'm back in school. It's only the second day, but already AP Chem is kicking my butt. Why the hell did I take the hardest class in the entire high school? It's official. I'm getting no sleep this school year . . . Oh, well. I'll deal. **

**See you all next week! Review! **

**~ Shard of Freedom**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Konbanwa. For those who are unaware, that's good evening in Japanese. Of course, I actually have no idea when you're reading this, but since I tend to get the most reviews in the evening, I'm going to assume. Welcome to the fantabulous world of chapter seven. **

**Okay, I guess that it was a little mean of me to leave you on such a cliff hanger. But this fic needed some spice, ya know! **

**IMPORTANT NOTE:**

** Yes, I messed with the canon. Sai and Sasuke are brothers. Itachi does not exist in this fic. I already had a plot line in mind, and Itachi just didn't fit the bill. Unless you can see Itachi being a guard instructor. I can't. Besides, if I had stuck Itachi in there, it wouldn't be nearly as surprising. However, this is fanfiction. If I wanted Naruto to be a talking orange whale who sings Broadway show tunes, it's totally legal! It would be a terrible plotline, but still totally legal. But I hope that you all don't mind. It's not nearly as bad as some of the crack pairings that I've seen out there (shudder). Try it. It's really quite disturbing. I hope you all continue with this fic. **

**Despite the clamors for me to update earlier, I will keep to my update schedule. It's easier on me, especially with school starting back up. Thurday is one of the only days that I don't have band, so it would be counter-productive for me to update any other time. But it's good to know that I've kept all of you on the edge of your seats. **

**Glossary at the end!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke would wear an actual shirt for Part II. **

* * *

Chapter Seven 

Unexpected and Sudden 

Konoha Marching Band Information Form

Name: _Naruto Uzumaki_

Grade: _Senior_

Age: _18_

Instrument: _TUBA! _

Joined Band: _Freshman Year_

Years of Experience: _4 years_

Hobbies: _martial arts, eating, sleeping, hanging out with my friends. _

Favorite Color: _Orange_

Favorite Food: _Ichiraku Ramen, of course! _

Favorite TV Show: _I have too many to decide . . . _

Why You Joined Band: _Because all my friends are here!_

* * *

_It had been the end of freshman year. _

_Not much had happened during freshman year—at least nothing had actually changed. Sure, both Sasuke and Naruto had joined band, but nothing much else had happened. Sasuke and Naruto were inseparable as always. At the time, they were at their usual haunt, the roof of the school._

_They weren't actually allowed to be up there. Naruto, for his part, did care. Sasuke did, but was willing to get over it. Since they had joined high school and band, they had very little time to hang out by themselves anymore, always surrounded by their other friends. The roof was like their spot, wherever they hung out when something bad had happened. _

_It was an accident that they had discovered the roof. As usual, the two of them had signed up to work spotlight for the musicals and the plays. Naruto had a knack with anything technological, so he would coordinate the lighting while Sasuke worked the spotlight. They had a good time. During the fall play that year, they had gotten curious about one of the doors in the spotlight room. That door led to the roof. Since then, they had been sneaking up there to get away from the drama that was high school life. _

_Naruto was lying down on the concrete of the roof and looked up at the sky, watching the clouds while he complained about Kiba and how he had spilt coffee all over his Honors Geometry homework. Naruto took mostly honors classes, despite his goofy and otherwise laid-back personality. Math and science were his strong suit, and he had Sasuke, the child prodigy, to get him through the rest of his subjects. Especially English. Naruto hated English. _

_Sasuke was next to him, his legs crossed and leaning back on the palms of his hands. Naruto took a sideline glance over to the young prodigy. They had been the best of friends for the longest time, and that didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon. But by now, Naurto had figured out that he _might_ like Sasuke as more than just friends. Naruto had known that he was gay for a long time, but not that he had liked Sasuke. Especially since he was pretty convinced that Sasuke played for the other team. _

_But at the moment, that didn't really matter. Sasuke seemed to have issues with something at the moment. He had been distracted, confused. A couple times this week he had walked into a different classroom for first bell because he was "thinking about different things." And while it would be perfectly normal for anyone else, this was SASUKE. He never did anything that he didn't mean to. _

"_Naru," Sasuke said softly, cutting through Naruto's ranting like butter. _

_Naruto stopped talking. Out of all of his friends, he only allowed Sasuke to call him the childish nickname. After all, Sasuke had been the first one to call him the nickname after all. Otherwise, he said that it made him sound like a girl. He may be gay, but he was not a girl. He had to draw the line somewhere. _

"_How long have we been friends?" _

"_Hm, that's a strange question, Sas. Since we were like three or four probably." _

_Sasuke sighed. He mumbled something that Naruto couldn't catch although it contained the words "my father" and "asshole." Naruto tactfully pretended like he didn't hear it. _

"_Is something bothering you, Sas? You've seemed off lately." Naruto looked up towards his friend carefully, not wanted to upset the raven. _

_Sasuke only shook his head. "I'm not quite sure what I should do. It's all so confusing. I feel like I should have a choice in the matter, but I know that I don't."_

"_Does this have something to do with the fighting?" Naruto's house was right next to Sasuke's which mean that he could hear the arguments that echoed from their walls. _

_Sasuke sighed. "You know better than most that my family isn't . . . easy." _

"_Your father sure doesn't help matters. How's Sai holding up?" _

"_I'm not sure if he's going to last much longer. He may not show it, but I can tell that he's getting fed up. And when Sai gets angry, all hell breaks loose." _

_Naruto shuddered. "That's something that I don't want to see." _

"_Yeah . . ." Sasuke's tone was mournful. _

_Naruto got up and looked over at Sasuke. "Okay, what's really wrong? This isn't just about some arguments. This is bigger than that, isn't it?" _

_Sasuke sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "Things have just gotten a little bit complicated. I'm . . . I'm not exactly sure how much time I have left." _

"_Are you dying or something?" Naruto said with a mix of fear and concern in his voice. _

_Sasuke rolled his eyes, but it was half-hearted. "Of course not, moron. But everyone dies. I just wonder if I'll get to finish everything that I need to do before I have to leave it all behind." _

_Naruto paused. "Why are you making it sound like you're leaving?" _

"_Let's just say that I'm at a crossraods. And no matter what choice I make, I'm going to end up losing. And you know that I hate losing." _

_Naruto laughed, but it was forced. With Sasuke speaking as if he might leave, it was too painful to actually laugh. They were too close for that. "Oh, I know. But you still haven't told me what's going on." _

_Sasuke didn't say anything. He just focused his ebon eyes on the clouds above, doing a perfect impression of Shikamaru without even trying. Whenever Sasuke met other people, he wasn't one for words, but Naruto had always gotten him to open up. Naruto couldn't remember a time when they hadn't been close. He couldn't remember a time when Sasuke had kept things from him. They were the closest of friends – to the point of their friendship being questioned. Why was Sasuke silent now? What wasn't Sasuke telling him? It seemed way too late in the game to have secrets. _

_The silence stretched for a moment. _

_Sasuke sighed, and Naruto could have sworn that he had heard Sasuke mutter mournfully "I'm going to regret every decision I've ever made." _

_The raven got up from the concrete floor of the roof and turned to look at Naruto. "Come on. We better get going before we're late to sixth bell." _

_Naruto nodded, but gave Sasuke a look that said "I know that you just unsubtly changed the subject but I'm going to let it go because I know that you won't give me a straight answer." It was amazing how much they could read into every look that the other had. _

_As the two of them walked towards the door that led back down to the school, Sasuke dragged behind. As Naruto reached a tan hand to the door, Sasuke walked up behind him. Before Naruto could even comprehend what was happening, Sasuke's lips brushed his cheek. _

_Naruto wiped around to look at Sasuke in shock. Sasuke knew that he was gay, yes. And he definitely wasn't the one to tease or be cruel to Naruto. But since Naruto was practically certain that Sasuke played for the other team, he couldn't understand it. Why would Sasuke kiss him at all, even if it was on the cheek? Naruto couldn't help that his blue eyes widened or that he had a look of sheer and utter shock on his face. Sasuke was calm and collected as he looked to Naruto, but there was a slight dusting of pink on his cheeks. _

"_Listen, Naru." Sasuke's tone was one of dread and pent-up sorrow. "No matter what happens, don't blame me for it, okay?" _

_Naruto tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean by that? Of course I'd never blame you." His voice was a little bit shaky, all things considered._

"_Good. Just . . . remember that." _

_With those words, Sasuke swept in front of Naruto, leaving the roof and his blond-haired best friend behind him. Naruto was left with a sense of heavy foreboding that he couldn't actually explain. _

_After that meeting, Sasuke missed a week of school without a trace. He just fell off the radar. No one knew what happened to him. Many people wondered, but none got a straight answer, not even the administration. As soon as he returned, it seemed that everything had changed. He was more introverted, more silent, more darkened. And he was without a best friend. _

_That day on the roof was the last day that they would talk to each other for over two years. _

_Naruto had never been truly sure what had happened. But when Sasuke returned, there was the simple fact that they weren't friends anymore. They no longer talked. They dropped the nicknames that they had had for each other since they were practically in diapers. Not even civil greetings were exchanged. Eventually, silence and lack of contact turned into bad blood between the two. But through it all, Naruto kept the promise that he had made. _

_He didn't blame Sasuke for it. _

* * *

Naruto wasn't exactly sure why Sasuke was on his mind. He hadn't seen Sasuke in years. Well, he'd _seen_ Sasuke of course, since they were still in band together, but it wasn't like . . . oh, you understand. It could have been because of their forced contact last night. Naruto wasn't sure why he had pushed for a reaction out of Sasuke last night. Maybe it was to remind his best friend—scratch that, former best friend—that he was still around, and that he still remembered him.

They hadn't talked in two years. Why did Naruto care what happened to the raven? It wasn't like he was the one who had broken their friendship. He wasn't the one who had stopped talking. He wasn't the one who had closed up. But Naruto couldn't deny the sense of companionship that he had always felt with Sasuke. Even now, two years later, he still wanted to be a part of Sasuke's world somehow. He had wanted to still be friends when they first broke it off, and he still wanted to be friends. And he had never blamed Sasuke for what had happened. He never blamed Sasuke for things fallings apart. Part of him thought that he should have blamed Sasuke, but he didn't give into that. He still trusted Sasuke.

Man, he really was whipped.

He didn't usually think of his lingering attraction for Sasuke. He had liked Sasuke when they were best friends, and such an attraction doesn't just disappear. Of course, it wasn't like he would do anything about it. Last night had been the first night that they had reestablished contact with each other, and Naruto and Sasuke still had bad blood. While Naruto may not have blamed Sasuke, he had been ignored for two years and ignored him in return. Naruto wasn't going to get over that because Sasuke had said a total of three words to him, which was more conversation that they had had in years.

Naruto was walking around the camp after talking to Konohamaru, his new rookie. Konohamaru was a good kid. A little too much like Naruto when he was a freshman, but still a good kid. He would grow up to be a great person and a great tuba player. He was already good, but as they say in marching band, you can always get better.

Sectionals, which was the afternoon block for the winds, had ended about a half an hour ago. Naruto had been a little late to get out, since he had to write in all the dots for the elusive Dave, the fourth tuba player who had done something to his ankle during precamp. Naruto wasn't sure when he was coming back, if at all. If not, Naruto was going to be marching around a hole the entire season. No matter how he looked at it, that would be fun.

Now Naruto was just wandering. He supposed that he should be trying to find something else to do, but it was free time after all, and he had about an hour before he had to head back into the dining hall to get some food. So now he was walking around with no true destination in mind.

Eventually, he ended up on the trails behind the cabins. He had been exploring these trails with some of his friends—Sasuke included, now that he thought about it—his freshman year, and he was pretty acquainted with the area. There was a lake back behind the woods, he remembered. It was decently clean and full of lily pads. Someone must have been taking care of it, because there were pansies and marigolds around the edge of the lake, along with some benches.

_Plop!_

Naruto's good hearing caught the sound of a stone being thrown into the water. Someone had clearly been the lake. Probably a freshman who was curious.

_Plop!_

Naruto approached the clearing where the lake was and saw that someone was on the bench, tossing pebbles into the pond angrily. Naruto would have thought that he was trying to skip the stones across the water, but there was a certain malicious intent behind those throws. As if they were been directed towards something other than the still surface of the water.

Naruto walked towards him carefully, not wanting to impose of someone's personal space, but not wanted to leave the pond behind. It used to be where he and Sasuke had come during their freshman year before things went sour.

"I know that you're there. You really haven't become more subtle in these years, have you?"

Naruto froze when he heard the voice. One that was all too familiar.

Naruto moved forward to the bench, and yes, it was Sasuke sitting there, not looking at him, wearing his usual black. Naruto had always wondered how Sasuke didn't die in all the black that he wore. It was sure hot enough for it.

"Well, it's not like you've changed much," Naruto said carefully, and Sasuke smiled just a little bit. Not much, just a little.

"No, I guess I haven't." Sasuke still didn't look at Naruto. The conversation was simple, but it carried too much weight to be insignificant.

What was Naruto supposed to say to guy that had been avoiding him and that he'd been avoiding? Things certainly weren't sunshine and picnics between the two of them, but the blonde knew that Sasuke was upset and couldn't give up the chance to reconnect, even if it was just for a moment.

Naruto sat down next to Sasuke, who stiffened but didn't more away. Progress.

They sat in silence for a moment, which was odd for Naruto. He had always been one to speak first and think later. But the silence wasn't awkward. Well, maybe a little, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Amazingly, it was Sasuke who broke it.

"I can't believe that he came back . . . Now of all times. After everything that had happened?"

"Um . . . Sasuke, I don't mean in intrude, but who exactly are you talking about?"

Sasuke threw another stone into the water. He just kept picking them up from the gravel beneath his feet. "Sai. He came back today."

"You mean Sai, your off-to-college brother?"

"No, I mean Sai, my off-to-college, disowned, haven't-see-him-in-three-years-but-didn't-even-bother-to-write, brother. He just left. And now he decides to come back as the new guard instructor."

Naruto had no idea why Sasuke was telling him all of this. Maybe it was a remnant of their shared past. Or maybe it was because Sasuke, just like everyone else, needed someone to talk to.

"I didn't know that." Naruto had known that Sai had gone off to college but _disowned_? When had this happened? Oh, wait, he wouldn't know.

"Yeah, well, that's understandable," Sasuke spat bitterly. "It wasn't like things worked out easily between us."

"Woah, woah, woah. What's with the venom? It's not like it was my decision that we parted on such bad terms." Naruto held up his hands in a gesture of innocence.

"It wasn't my fault either!" Sasuke said, his voice rising.

Naruto felt his temper boil. Was Sasuke honestly blaming him for their broken friendship? "It certainly wasn't mine!"

Sasuke sobered instantly. "It's not like I was blaming you . . . but there are some factors of this relationship that you don't know about."

"Oh, I understand that," Naruto said, his voice _dripping_ love, "like your disowned brother. What else did you never tell me, Sasuke? What else are you never going to tell me?"

Sasuke didn't say anything, although Naruto did see a shadow of sorrow cross over his face.

"Do you even remember the last time that we spoke back in freshman year? That was the last time that I saw you for _two years_, Sasuke! What was I supposed to think when you disappear off the face of the planet for a week and then, when I finally figure out where you are, you ignore me. _For two years._ So guess what I did, I ignored you back! It's like we weren't even friends any—"

Before Naruto could continue with his rant, Sasuke's hand snaked out and wrapped around Naruto's neck and he crushed their lips together. It was only for a moment, and it was so surprising to Naruto that he didn't even have time to respond to the kiss. But while it was brief, it was blissful, and Sasuke certainly knew what he was doing, even if Naruto didn't. When Sasuke pulled away, his eyes were cold, but his cheeks were pink.

"Yes," Sasuke said harshly, "I do remember the last time that we spoke to each other. And I told you not to blame me. There's unknown variables in this equation, Naruto."

Naruto couldn't put together a coherent sentence. Sasuke . . . _kissed him. _These sorts of things don't happen very often, I hope you know.

"And just so you know, this doesn't change a thing."

Then Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, turned on his heels, and walked away—just like the last time that they had been together. Just like freshman year. And just like freshman year, Naruto stood there dumbstruck, and only later would he wonder why the hell didn't he do something.

As Naruto brought a hand trying to his face, trying to convince himself that he wasn't still in a camp bed sleeping, he realized something.

Sasuke was gone by the time that he found his voice, but that didn't stop him from shouting anyway.

"YOU BASTARD! THAT WAS MY FIRST KISS!"

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

_**Sectionals**_**: If you are in any type of band, you know what this is. It's when you separate out into different sections (like flutes, clarinets, saxophones, mellophones, etc.) and work on things that your individual section needs to work on. In this band (and my own), afternoon block is dedicated to being inside and working in sectionals. **

_**Dots:**_** Remember what I said about drill being like marching coordinates? Dots are the actual coordinates in drill. You create drill by literally "connecting the dots." **

**Well, I thought that that would answer some questions, but rather than that, it just added more didn't it. Sorry . . . well, not really. I like this fic too much for that. I hope that you like the chapter! **

**Okay, true story: "Hey, Claire, guess what?"**

"**What?" **

"**I had a test today in AP Chem. Hey, Claire guess what?" **

"**What?"**

"**I have a test tomorrow in AP Chem." **

**Yes, that is literally what my life is like now. I've had three tests this week in a row, and I have **_**two **_**on Tuesday along with a lab report. I get no love . . . **

**Anyway, next chapter should be back in Hinata's point of view. However that can be subject to change. I'm a fickle creature. **

**See you next week! Review!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Here's Chapter Eight. It seems like such a long time since I updated, but it's just been a week, like normal. Maybe it's because I'm back in school and having to deal with all of my AP classes. I'm a junior in high school, by the way. I do this in the free time that I don't have with all of my classes and band. Like right now for example.**

**Anyway, this would be chapter eight. It's in Hinata's point of view. There will be a glossary at the end. **

**I probably should have mentioned this before, but as of chapter six, this is my most reviewed story. Thirty-one reviews! Yeah! That's great! I'm glad to know that you all like this story enough to review it so often. It gives me that funny-feeling that reminds me of seasickness, but in a good way. **

**Yep. It's official. I definitely need more sleep. **

**Now, continue to the lovely chapter eight . . .**

* * *

Chapter Eight 

Reasons For Being

_**World English Dictionary**_

_**Exist [ig-zist] : verb**_

_**1. To have being or reality; to be**_

_**2. To eke out a living; stay alive; survive**_

_**3. To be living; live**_

_**4. To be present under specific conditions or in a specific place**_

_**5. Philosophy:**_

_** To be actual instead of merely possible**_

_** To be a member of the domain of some theory, an element of some possible world, etc. **_

_** To have some contingent while being free, responsible, and aware of one's situation.**_

_**It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we will look upon what we think is our present existence as a dream. -**__**-Edgar Allen Poe**_

* * *

Hinata needed her phone back. Not that she had ever answered it . . . but she still needed her phone back. She didn't want to tell Sakura about the reasons behind her asthma attack, but the excuse that "I left my phone back in the cabin" was becoming thinner and thinner when she realized that she couldn't find it anywhere. It was probably broken anyway.

More likely, it was with Gaara.

Gaara. She had never talked to him before in his life, and other than the few glances that they gave each other, they had never been in the same circles. People called him the Demon. Half the band was convinced that he was in a relationship with Sasuke . . . or Ginny . . . or both . . . or Naruto . . . etc. For a guy who seemed to not have much of a social life, he certainly got around. Hinata scoffed at the rumors. But he was clearly a kind person. Why else would he help out Hinata, when they didn't even know each other? He was a good peron. She was certain of it.

When Gaara had been carrying her to Tsunade, all she could think about was the fact that no one had carried her like that since she was a child and Neji used to carry her when she got hurt. She remembered how comforting Neji's arms had been back then, when she had had a twisted ankle or an asthma attack. Gaara's arms were just as comforting, if not more. She was mostly focused on keeping her breathing even, but she couldn't help but relax into his embrace. It was comforting and warm. At that moment, all of Sakura's warnings left her mind and all she knew was that he was a kind person who was willing to help a complete stranger.

Thinking back on it had Hinata blushing furiously.

Although most people knew that she had an asthma attack, very few knew that Gaara had helped her out. The only people were Tsunade, who wouldn't tell anyone, and Temari, if the knowing looks that she kept sending Hinata told her anything. She didn't think that Gaara would tell anyone about what had happened. Well, maybe Sasuke. He and Sasuke did seem pretty close, which didn't surprise Hinata at all. They both had the same . . . aura, I guess you would call it. It was strong and silent. But Sasuke's definitely seemed colder than Gaara's was. Gaara's presence was warmer, but more resigned, as if he wanted to help people but feared their reaction to his kindness. She supposed that it was only natural with the way that people treated him.

Hinata spent most of the evening practice wondering how to talk to Gaara. She was sure that Gaara would return the phone to her as soon as she asked and she wanted to thank him. But Hinata wasn't about to just go up to Gaara and engage in friendly conversation. More rumors would start about her, and she wanted to talk about her asthma attack, which she didn't want anyone else to know about. It would be better for her if she was able to talk to Gaara by herself. Besides, she had a feeling that the conversation was going to be awkward at best.

When Neji hit the gock block at the end of practice and told them all to "Bring it in" around Asuma and Kurenai (who were married, by odd coincidence), Hinata shot him a shy smile. She knew that her cousin had been worried about her. He was more like an older brother to her, which made her call him "Nej" instead of his actual name. Neji had been with her through everything. When she thought about it, Neji was like her guardian angel.

Asuma sat at the top of the scaffold, a cigarette between his fingers and a microphone in the other. "Alright. Is this us?"

There were scattered answers around the band, most of them yes. Asuma took a drag of his cigarette before tapping the ashes down off the scaffold. Shikamaru rolled his eyes beneath Asuma. It was common knowledge that Shikamaru was Asuma's favorite student— like the son he's always wanted. Apparently, Shikamaru had learned a lot from Asuma—both chess and his smoking habits.

"Okay, guys. First off the bat, everyone give a round of applause to our rookies."—scattered clapping—"You guys have survived one day of band camp. Good job, now you've only got ten more days to worry about. Our first performance is next Friday. Like most everyone knows, the band gets this Saturday off from band. Go home, stay here, enjoy yourself, etc. Do whatever you want that isn't band. I know that some sections get together and go out to eat. Although, at this point, I would have had enough with all of you people. There's only so much 'bonding' that I can take."

The band laughed.

"Other news. Okay, everyone see the new guard staff in the back. That's Sai, our new guard tech, and I think that my wife is going to propose any day now." Kurenai hit him on the side of the head, but she was smiling.

Sai. Sasuke's brother, it turned out. They seemed to have a lot of bad blood between the two of them. Hinata hadn't seen Sasuke sulk and stop away like that since her first year of band, when things had gotten bad between him and Naruto. That meant that it was _really _bad. Hinata may not do backstory, but she was becoming very interesting in everyone else's.

Asuma continued. "Now, moving onward. Tonight, we have a meeting at ten o'clock for a lovely game called Assassin. You all should play. Go around and fake kill each other in your spare time. However, in order to play, you have to come to the meeting tonight and get signed up. The rules will be explained then, so I'm not going to bother to explain them now. Everyone should come and check it out at least. It makes things interesting, to say the least.

"Now, I want you all to go and get some sleep. You guys are all dirty, sweaty, and I wouldn't touch any of you with a ten-foot pole. Get some rest, because we start back up at 6 o'clock in the morning tomorrow! All of you should be out there and running by the time I get on the field! If not, there will be blood to pay!"

Asuma took a nonchalant drag of his cigarette, but no one doubted his threat.

"That's about it. Neji, Kurenai, anything to add?"

The two lead staff members shook their heads.

"Okay then. Ready? Break!"

The band left their huddle and went to gather their stuff. Hinata's binder had a thin sheen of dew on it, and she wiped it off with the edge of her shirt. Behind her, Shikamaru called "Winds! Help the front carry things back!"

No one moved to go help them.

"NOW!" Temari shrieked, causing some unsuspecting freshman to jump. A few kids went over to carry the speakers and the bass drum.

Hinata gathered up the dot books for the clarinets and put them in the dot box. She shouldered her bag and tried to maneuver herself so that she could carry her clarinet, her water jug, her binder and the dot box comfortably. It didn't work.

As she walked away from the field, she saw Sakura talking to Sai, who seemed a bit distracted. Understandable, considering Sasuke was two yard-lines away, glaring at him while Ginny spoke to him and Gaara. Hinata glanced to Gaara once. He caught her gaze. She looked away quickly. On the other side of the battery, Naruto had his tuba on his less-bad shoulder and rolled his eyes at the drama. However, Hinata noticed, he wouldn't even glance at Sasuke. Things were still bad between them, she guessed.

Hinata dropped her stuff off at the assembly hall. She reached for her back pocket to check the time, only to realize that she didn't have her phone on her. That was still in Gaara's possession. She played with a teardrop charm on one of her purple bracelets while she walked, thinking about how to talk to him. She had never been this nervous. Not ever. Not even when she asked out Naruto her sophomore year. Not even then.

She was just asking the guy for her phone back for Pete's sake! There was no need for her to be nervous! The guy had carried her away from the cabins! Asking him for her phone should be nothing.

If only life was that easy for her.

* * *

Hinata pulled on her pajamas after she had gotten out of the shower. She ran her towel over the bracelets again, trying to dry all the beads.

When Sakura walked into the bathroom to look for her shampoo that she seemed to have lost, Hinata had bobby pins in her mouth and was trying to French braid her hair in the limited space in front of the mirror. When Sakura had longer hair, Hinata had often been begged to French braid her hair, but it never worked out as good as when she did her own.

"Hey, Hinata," Sakura said, "are you coming to the Assassin meeting tonight?"

Hinata shook her head, unable to speak clearly with the bobby pins in her mouth.

"Okay then. Will you be okay? I heard that practically the entire cabin is going to be going."

Hinata rolled her eyes and shot her friend a look that said, "It's okay, I've been alone before, Sakura."

Sakura smiled and continued rummaging around for her shampoo. After a few minutes, there was a loud "Ah ha! I found it!" followed by much victory dancing. And while Sakura was as tone-deaf as a rock, she at least had the moves. Hinata was pretty sure that she'd look like an idiot doing half of the things that Sakura was doing.

Sakura glanced at her phone. "Oh, no, I'm gonna be late for the meeting. I'll see you in a bit, okay, Hina?"

"Yeah," she said, smiling sweetly, "you go have fun."

Sakura smiled once more before jogging out of the bathroom. Hinata followed closely behind.

A few minutes after Sakura had left, Hinata remained in the commons alone, surrounded by all of her stuff. After she had finished packing away all of her shower bottles, she decided that she couldn't put it off any longer. She needed to go find Gaara.

Hinata pulled out her flashlight and slipped on a pair of flip-flops that she had gotten from Myrtle Beach, back when life had made sense. She hoped that Gaara hadn't gone to the Assassin meeting. If he had, she would simply have to wait until he got back.

Luck was on her side.

Gaara was sitting at the picnic table where Sasuke usually sat, illuminated by a moth-light, beating the edge of the table with well-worn drumsticks, one earbud of his iPod in. She took a deep breath before she sat down on the bench below the table next to him.

Hinata could feel Gaara's eyes on her.

"I assume you want your phone back."

His voice was exactly as she had remembered it. Strong, smooth, laced with kindness and inner fire. The same voice that had comforted her during her asthma attack.

"Yes," Hinata said, blushing, not looking at him in the eyes, "but I also wanted to thank you. You know, for everything that you did."

"There's no need to thank me."

Hinata bit her lip. "If I could ask, why did you help me?"

Gaara only shrugged and threaded a hand through his blood-red hair. "Why wouldn't I help you? I don't think that there needs to be a reason. If you can help someone, I think that you have an obligation to do it."

"That's very compassionate and wise of you." Why would anyone call this man a demon? Hinata had never seen a reason to doubt his sincerity.

He only shrugged, humbled.

"I mean it. You should think better of yourself."

Gaara gave her a slight smile, but it looked more like a smirk. Either way, it made Hinata's heart beat louder, and she was sure that he could hear it.

There was a pause in conversation, but then Gaara reached into the pocket of his shorts before handing over her turquoise-blue phone. As she took the phone from him, their fingers touched, her pale on his slightly tanned. There was no instant "spark" like they would claim in romance novels, but it was comforting and it was warm. And it made Hinata blush once more.

"Thank you," she said quietly. "I wouldn't know what I would do if I had lost it."

"Of course. You might not believe me of anything," Gaara said carefully, with control, "but I didn't look through any of your messages or anything. Your phone did go off a few times. You're lucky that you have friends who care about you so much."

"Too much sometimes," Hinata mused. "Sometimes I think that they treat me like I'm a doll or something. Something that would break if they dropped it. I can handle myself, you know. I'm not going to fracture."

"Maybe we have opposite problems then. I'm seen as something unbreakable, something without emotions. You are too 'fragile' and 'sensitive' to handle your own life."

Hinata nodded and hummed her agreement. "Maybe you're right. I wonder which one hurts more? To always be broken or never to break at all?"

Gaara shrugged his shoulder as he resumed tapping lightly on the bench. "I guess it depends on which one matters more to you. To be strong or to be compassionate."

Hinata glanced over her shoulder once more before the conversation lapsed. She was looking for the others. As the camp was mostly bare, she assumed that the Assassin meeting wasn't over already.

"You don't want to be seen with me."

Gaara's voice jolted her out of her reprieve. It was a tone void of emotion, not even letting the littlest bit of sorrow pass through. He stated it as the cold hard fact. The rhythm that he was tapping got faster and more complex, but did not rise from its pleasant volume.

Hinata's eyes widened. "Oh, no, that's not it at all. I was just wondering if the Assassin meeting was over yet. Besides, I don't believe rumors. I accept people until they give me a reason not to. And you haven't given me a single one. Actually . . . I think that you're a good person. And you helped me. That's enough reason for me to be your friend in the first place."

As she talked, Hinata played with the end of her braid and tried to stifle her blush. God, what was wrong with her? It wasn't like she was saying anything that was embarrassing!

"Thank you," Gaara said quietly. "It's nice to know that someone doesn't believe what they hear."

"I've never had much use for rumors."

"Not even the ones concerning yourself?" Gaara said bluntly. The rhythm slowed down yet again.

Hinata froze. What had he heard? More importantly, what were they saying about her? She'd kept most of her secrets just that—secrets. Hinata had been positive that she had hidden all of the skeletons in her closet. What could they have been saying about her? Did she honestly want to know?

And how much of what they were saying was true?

"What are they saying?" Hinata asked softly, worried to hear the answer.

"Interesting," Gaara pondered out loud. "You don't mind my reputation, but you fear for your own. If that's the case, I honestly don't think that you should be seen around me. High school is vicious, you know." It seemed that he couldn't keep the tone of bitterness out of his voice.

Hinata's lavender eyes found the ground again. "It's not that I'm . . . concerned . . . with my reputation. It's more like . . . um . . . there are certain things that I don't want people to know, whether or not they believe them."

"Everyone has secrets."

Hinata tugged on the end of her braid nervously. "Yeah, but mine go a little bit . . . deeper."

Somewhere inside of her, a small portion of her brain was screaming, _Hinata! For the love of God, shut up! You don't even know this guy that well! Too much! Sharing too much!_

"So it has nothing to do with the bracelets that you wear?"

Hinata looked up at him in shock. Gaara's eyes sparkled with curiosity and concern. His voice now held the slight sarcastic tint that it was famous for. He watched as her hands subconsciously clenched the bracelets on both arms.

"Don't worry," Gaara said soothingly. "It's fine. I mean, we've all got something." He touched a drumstick to his forehead, where a square bandage was. "I know that you've seen my tattoo. We're two of a kind."

"Maybe," Hinata said slowly, her hands around her wrists. She needed to get out of there before he figured anything else out. This conversation cut way too close to the heart. Some things needed to stay where they were—dead and buried. There was no need to dig up that particular coffin just yet.

"Listen . . . I should probably go." Hinata turned to leave.

"I know what they mean."

Hinata froze.

Gaara sighed. "And I just want you to know that I don't think anything less of you because of it."

When Hinata felt her eyes tear up, whether from the fact that the words were said or that Gaara was the one who said them, Hinata did what she did best in these situations.

She ran.

* * *

**A/N: Glossary: **

_**Scaffold:**_** I don't really know how to describe it. It's a normal scaffold, but the staff members sit at the top and yell orders down at the band. They sit on the scaffold to get a bird's eye view of band. It's like . . . I don't know . . . twenty-five- ish feet tall. Yeah. That's what it is. **

_**Speakers: **_**Yes, there are speakers for band. They are used to project electronically produced sounds, like voice-overs, or sound effects. Most importantly, they are used so that the synthesizers can actually be heard. A keyboard is nothing without its speakers. **

_**Bass Drum**_**: that would be the front's concert bass drum, not the one's that march on the field. It's a lot bigger and a lot louder. And it's a pain in the butt to move. I'm a clarinet, but because of my friends in pit, I'm usually the one stuck moving the bass drum. **

_**Dot Box: **_**It's where the winds and the battery keeps their dot books, which are books that have a person's marching coordinates in them. Each section has their own dot box. Usually the section leader is in charge of it. But Hinata picks up the slack from her section leader, Kiba. **

_**Dot Books: **_**I'm not sure if I already explained this, but a dot book is a book that contains one person's marchng coordinates. No person has the same dot as another person, so no one else can march your dot. There is no bench for marching band. Everyone is included. **

_**Assassin: **_**You only wish that I'd tell you . . . It'll be important next chapter. For now, just know that it's a game that most of the band plays during band camp to lighten things up. **

**Okay, now that that's over . . . how'd you like chapter eight? As much as I am a mind reader, I cannot tell what you're thinking right off the bat. Sooo . . . Review! It's the only way that I'll know. **

**Next chapter will be in the point of view of . . . drum roll please! **

**Shikamaru!**

**Maybe. Again, I'm a fickle creature. **

**Please Review! See you all next week!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: First things first, I'm really sorry to all of my followers that I didn't update yesterday. My classes have swamped me with homework, I was sick earlier this week and I'm sick today, and I had a football game last night that the band had to go to, rather than the normal games that are on Friday. When there's football games, I get home at midnight or later, and I came home sick from the last one. I'm still sick, but I decided that I should update anyway. **

**Second things second, I would like to say thank you to MusicGeek764 and flying-purple-kangaroo, who has been great friends to me recently. I've been having a tough time of things, with all of my classes and me being sick, and they've been really considerate to me. **

**Third things third, here's chapter nine. As I've said before, it's been rough for me, so it's a little shorter than usual. I don't think that there's going to be a glossary at the end. Oh, last chapter was the most reviewed chapter! Yeah! Thanks, guys. I give all of you invisible sparkly unicorns . . . don't believe me? You may not see them, but they're there. **

**Now, onward to chapter nine!**

* * *

Chapter Nine

The Name of the Game: Assassination

Konoha Marching Band Information Form

_Name: _ Shikamaru Nara

_Grade: _ Senior

_Age: _18

_Instrument: _Marimba

_Joined Band: _Freshman Year

_Year of Experience: _4 years

_Hobbies: _sleeping, breathing, chess, smoking, etc.

_Favorite Color: _I don't know. Any color that isn't fluorescent pink.

_Favorite Food: _The kind that doesn't poison you.

_Favorite TV Show: _Ugh. This is such a drag.

_Why You Joined Band: _I suppose I could say that I can "for my friends" or something, but honestly, I was just really, really bored.

* * *

_**Rules of Assassin**_

_**1. In order to play Assassin, you must sign up with Neji on the first day of band camp, or have someone sign up for you. No exceptions. **_

_**2. When you sign up for Assassin, you will receive a name of the person you are killing at lunch the next day. In order to kill that person, you must walk up to that person, hold up a finger gun, and say "Bang, you're dead." **_

_**3. Once you have been "killed" you are no longer a part of the game. **_

_**4. If anyone sees or hears the killing, whether or not they are playing, the assassin dies, instead of the victim. **_

_**5. If you are dead, then you cannot witness a killing. **_

_**6. Once you die, you give whoever's name you had to the person that killed you.**_

_**7. You cannot NOT kill people. If you sigh up and do not kill within the first two days, a group of special people, known as the Death Squad, will come and kill you. **_

_**8. There is no way to kill a member of the Death Squad. They are immune to the rules of the game. **_

_**9. Every night, at the evening practice, Asuma will choose a name randomly. That person will be removed from the game. This is known as the "Claws of Asuma." That person dies and must discreetly give the name that they had to the person who had their name. **_

_**10. You can NOT play Assassin during practices. Free time and meal times are fine, but playing Assassin during practice is against the rules. Any deaths that occur during practices are not counted.**_

_**11. Neji can call a time-out of Assassin whenever he wishes. Also, he can suspend the Assassin game for a certain period of time.**_

* * *

Shikamaru didn't understand why he cared that much. He had never played Assassin during any year that he was in band, but every single year, he was put on the Death Squad. He didn't want to be a part of the Death Squad. It was even more annoying than actually playing the game, since you couldn't die and get out of it. No. He was assigned with killing the little runts who were too scared or too nervous to make a kill. And occasionally, he would take a few people for fun. There were over a hundred and twenty people playing Assassin this year. He was allowed to kill off a few.

The thing is, other than Neji and Asuma, who regulated the game, no one knew that he had been on the Death Squad every single year. There was always four members of the Death Squad—a freshman, a sophomore, a junior, and a senior. And every single year, it was the same four people, with a new freshman added in. This was Shikamaru's fourth year on the Death Squad. You would think that people would catch on—they were always the four people who never played.

Flan was the freshman in the Death Squad this year, and Shikamaru had promised to teach her the rules.

Rule Number One: You do not talk about the Death Squad.

Rule Number Two: You do not tell people that you are a part of the Death Squad.

Rule Number Three: You do not talk to the fellow members of the Death Squad about being a part of the Death Squad.

Rule Number Four: If you have to go and kill someone, the senior member of the Death Squad (Shikamaru) will come and find you. You do not go and find the senior member.

Rule Number Five: The Death Squad never kills in a group.

Rule Number Six: The Death Squad always gets their target alone first.

Rule Number Seven: The people who are killed by the Death Squad are not allowed to know the identity of those on the Death Squad. If they do know the identity of a person in the Death Squad, they are sworn to secrecy. If they do tell, the Death Squad has the right to prank them mercilessly on senior prank night.

Basically, until Shikamaru came and got the rest of the Death Squad, you weren't a part of the Death Squad. It was just how things worked. Of course, next year, the junior member of the death squad would take over for Shikamaru, but he didn't really have any worries. By then he'd be off to college and band camp would be the last thing on his mind.

Shikamaru was currently outside of the assembly hall, lighting up his cigarette and not caring who saw him. After all, Asuma was allowed to smoke on the field.

Asuma. Shikamaru tended to think of him often. After his own father had gone off to fight in the military, Asuma had been there for him. He had taken that place as Shikamaru's father figure. Soon, a twelve-year-old was sneaking out of his room while his mom was cleaning to go play chess with the nice band director down the street.

And during one of those chess games, Asuma had pulled out a bunch of odd shaped pieces and told Shikamaru to fit them together. They were supposed to make a square. Shikamaru was tired and hungry and frankly didn't care, but he wasn't going to back down on a puzzle. Shikamaru loved his puzzles. So, piece by piece, Shikamaru quickly created that square that Asuma had asked for.

Shikamaru took another drag of his cigarette as he remembered.

Of course, only later would he realize that Asuma had given him an I.Q. test without him knowing. Lord knows that he never would have agreed to it if he had known what it was. He was a middle-school kid who preferred to sleep than take notes in class. His grades were the lowest of the low. He wouldn't take a test if it was elementary addition. That was just the way that he was.

Asuma hadn't been surprised with the results. Shikamaru was a super-genius with an I.Q. of over 200. According to Asuma, he could have graduated high school before he had entered it.

But Shikamaru didn't want that. He wanted a normal life with a normal family and a normal job. He wasn't going to go anywhere with music, even though, as Anko said he was "the best marimba she'd seen in years." He didn't want to "go places." He would rather remain exactly where he was and not work for it. After all, there was nothing as upsetting as giving everything for something and then getting shot down.

But now, he wasn't sure what he wanted to do. Shikamaru sent a glance over towards his cabin, where an annoying little envelope was sitting on his bed, threatening to tear his life apart and make some very un-Shikamaru choices.

Shikamaru brought his cigarette to his lips again.

He didn't know what to do anymore.

He blew out the smoke and watched it as it scattered in the air.

"You know that's bad for you right?"

Shikamaru sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

He turned to see Temari come up to him from the other side of the building. She had her hair down, which was a rarity, and she was wearing only black Sophie shorts and a tank top. Although Shikamaru would never tell her, she looked good. Of course, she also would probably beat him up for only thinking that. She was a tough girl.

It was kind of hot.

Another thing he would never tell her.

Temari crossed her arms and leaned against the building next to Shikamaru. Her eyes glanced at him. For a second, he wondered why she would, but then he reminded himself that he didn't care.

Before the silence got awkward, Shikamaru spoke.

"Are you going to lecture me now about how I'm going to die young and never get a girlfriend because girls don't like smokers?"

Temari laughed. It was gentle and high-pitched, which was the exact opposite of what he thought that her laugh would sound like. "Yeah, right. I got nothing against you smoking. As long as you're not doing it just to look cool."

"Nah. I mainly did because Asuma did it. Now, it's just second nature for me."

Temari raised an eyebrow. "How long have you been smoking?" She asked without a single hint of disgust in her voice. That was surprising. Even Naruto, the most accepting guy that he knew, occasionally told him how nasty it was that he smoked.

"Since freshman year. Four years ago."

"That's not too bad. I would have been worried if you had been smoking since like sixth grade or something."

Shikamaru laughed. "Yeah. Well, my father was still in the country back then. When he left for Iraq, Asuma took over the role of my father. And I guess I hero-worshipped him a bit. Imitation's the best form of a compliment, right?"

Temari hummed noncommittally. After a moment, she said, "Your father's fighting in Iraq?"

"No, not really. He can fight, if that's what you mean. But he mainly works on tactics and codes. He's pretty smart. I doubt that he would die out there. I'm not worried about that." Shikamaru paused to take another drag. As he blew out the smoke he continued. "Anyway, he's just been gone for a while. Like nearly six years. He comes home every once and a while, but it doesn't really seem like he's home until he has to go back again."

Shikamaru glanced over at his companion.

"Oh, no you don't. There are certain things that I can't stand, and the pity look is one of them. Don't you go and make up your mind that I'm some poor kid who didn't have a father figure and just needs to be loved. Believe me, I get enough 'love' from my mom back home, if the amount of yelling that she does at me to get a job says anything. And I've got Asuma, too. So I'm in no way a pity child."

Shikamaru's thoughts flashed back to the letter than he had on his bed. Asuma had given him it this morning. _Thanks, Asuma,_ he thought. _As if band camp doesn't put enough on my plate already. _

Temari raised a cool blond eyebrow at him. She leaned back again. "Yeah, I get what you're getting at. I mean, my mom died a while back. Everyone gives me those looks of pity so that they don't seem all cold hearted, but I don't think that anyone really cares. I mean, I'm not a super-likable person."

"Prickly as a cactus, you mean."

Temari hit him on the arm. Shikamaru rubbed the forming bruise as she spoke.

"Anyway, I think that it's cool that your dad's in the military. You've got to be proud of him." She said it with a sense of longing that Shikamaru couldn't place. And he was pretty good at reading people.

"I guess. I'm assuming that you don't have the best home life?"

"Why would you think that?" Her eyes were fiercely green as she answered.

"Because you act as if you aren't proud of your parents."

She scoffed. "My mother, yes. She was a good woman who kept my dad in line. She was strong enough to raise three kids practically by herself, at least until she died, ten years ago. My dad—not so much. It doesn't help with how he treats us. I mean Gaara—" She paused. "Never mind. I shouldn't have told you anyway."

Shikamaru made a show of being indifferent as he tapped the ashes off of his cigarette. "Why?"

"Because those aren't my secrets to tell."

"Good reason."

They stayed in companionable silence for a while, until Shikamaru crushed his cigarette on the sole of his shoe.

"So is it true?" he said, smirking.

"Is what true?" Temari looked wary, cautious even.

"Is it true that girls won't date guys if they smoke? I've always wondered, and that's what Naruto keeps telling me."

She sent him a smirk. "Well, that's true for most girls. That can't stand the thought of dating a smoker."

"Is that so?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow as he crossed his arms across his black t-shirt.

"Yep. But for me, it reminds me of my mom."

"Your mom used to smoke?"

Temari shrugged. "She tried not to around us kids. But she had her office, where she did all of her work. She would always smoke in there. After she died, my father . . . well, he basically destroyed ever sigh that she had ever lived in the house. He turned her office into my room. There's basically nothing left of her except for the few things that I saved from my dad's purge and the fact the my room smells like smoke."

Shikamaru didn't really have anything to say. He had never known the loss of a parent, and anything that he would say would sound fake.

Temari glanced over at him. "Usually when I tell people about that, they always say that they are sorry. Aren't you?"

Shikamaru watched her carefully. "It wasn't my fault that your mom died, and it wouldn't change anything if I apologized. And besides, I know that I hate it when people say they're sorry about my dad. I assume that you're the same way."

"Got it in one, pineapple head."

"Whatever, girly." Shikamaru stretched his arms over his head. "Now I'm going to turn in before any other odd people tell me about their entire backstories."

Temari hit him again, and she made sure that it was the same spot. He was going to bruise tomorrow. "Sure, pineapple head. I'll see you tomorrow. Bright and early."

Temari walked away, but when Shikamaru caught a flash of blonde and dark blue ducking behind a building, obviously having watched them, he called her back.

"Temari!"

She looked over her shoulder, expectantly.

"Watch out for Ino, okay?"

"You mean that blonde guard girl who's way too skinny?"

Shikamaru nodded. "She may look like she's fragile, but she's got a mean side. Anyway, she loves playing matchmaker. Don't believe anything that she tells you, okay?"

Temari laughed. "No promises."

With that, she walked away.

Shikamaru thought of all the problems that he still had, starting with the largest and ending with the most miniscule. Ino was in the middle. While the interlude had been nice, those problems were still there.

Shikamaru pulled out another cigarette. With the way that things were going, he wasn't sure if he had enough packs to get him through all of band camp.

* * *

**A/N: So did you like it? I personally can't believe that I'm adding in another plot line (as if I didn't have enough already) but Shikamaru is one of my favorite characters in Naruto, and I decided that he needed his own plotline. I love writing him and Temari anyway. **

**Does anyone not understand Assassin? 'Cause it's kind of important to the story . . . If you don't get it, mention it in a review, and I'll explain it more in the next chapter. I aim to please. **

**On a seperate note, I have a camp day tomorrow. It's like band camp, except more work, less fun, and it completely wipes out my saturday. Oh, wait, in band, I don't have Saturdays. I'm going to go whether I'm sick or not, because you only miss a camp day if you want your head on a pike. I prefer my head where it is, thank you very much. **

**On an even more seperate note, my band has named a dance more after one of our band directors. We're all going to dance it during homecoming and prom.**

**Next chapter will probably be in the point of view of Hinata. Or maybe Sakura. Or perhaps Ino. I'll decide later. **

**Anyway, review! Comments and constructive critism are welcome. Flames shall be used to make toasty marshmellows. **

**See you next week! On Thursay, I promise!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Greeting and salutations. It's been a week, and here's the wonderful chapter ten. Yeah, double digits! I'm moving up in the fanfiction world. Anyway, just to clarify, it's the second day of band camp- Tuesday- in this fic right now. I've been writing this story for a month and a half. . . Wow. This is going to take forever. But I hope that you all continue this to the end, because I sure will. **

**Anyway, shout out to my newest fanfiction favorite, Dawnfire7! She's one of my friends who just made a fanfiction account and doesn't have any stories up yet. But she still deserves a shout out. She plays trumpet in my marching band. She's a rookie. **

**Here's chapter ten. There should be a glossary at the end. Woo-hoo for plot-forwarding chapters. Not that any of my chapters aren't. There are just too many plot lines for them not to be. **

**Continue on, my friends!**

* * *

Chapter Ten

You Can't Catch Me

_I grew up as normally as I could. _

_I didn't mind being ordered around by my father—if anything, that was natural. I didn't mind all of the classes that I had to take. It didn't matter to me. It made him happy, and I was doing my duty as his daughter. Then, when I turned thirteen, he stared lecturing me about how I couldn't handle the mantle of leadership and that the heir to his enterprise should be my little sister, Hanabi. And when I turned fourteen, I realized that everything that I had worked on was for nothing. Nothing that I would do would change the way that my father saw me. _

_To him, I was just weak. I was weak when I had asthma. I was weak when I relied on Neji. I was weak when I cried when he said particularly mean things. That was the only thing that my father would see me as. _

_And being weak as I was, I did everything that I could to escape the situation that I was placed in. I tried to take the easy way out. _

_And despite everything, you know what the kicker is? _

_Despite everything that I did . . . _

_I'm still weak. _

_-From the diary of Hinata Hyuuga _

* * *

Running away from Gaara was something that she was going to regret for a long time. He probably hated her now, thinking that she was shunning like everyone else did. She didn't want to be a part of that. She didn't want him to think that way about her. She didn't see him as what everyone said that he was. He was more than that.

She probably just screwed up her chance with him.

Hinata lamented how stupid she was.

Hinata had been woken up by Sakura, kicking her in the side and yelling at Hinata to turn off her damn phone, because no one else could figure out how to unlock her phone and it was annoying as crap. After being literally kicked out of bed, Hinata had shoved her phone away after turning it off, not wanting to think back to last night, when Gaara had given it back to her.

Gaara . . . damn.

She might have been a bit dense, but she wasn't foolish. She could recognize attraction when she saw it. She, Hinata Hyuuga, for some odd reason that she couldn't explain, had a crush on Gaara. Hinata wasn't going to naïve and believe that she had a chance—she wasn't nearly pretty enough or important enough to catch his eye—but she recognized what it was. She had been quick to recognize her crush on Naruto as well. Gaara and Naruto were two vastly different people, with vastly different personalities, but she admired both of them all the same.

Hinata sighed. If there was one thing that she couldn't stand, it was having people be disappointed with her. As she sat on her mattress, she wrapped her arms around her knees. She would rather have people yell at her than be disappointed with her. She had done nothing but let her father down. She didn't want to get that same look of dissatisfaction aimed at her. It made her worry, and when she worried, she got stressed, and when she got stressed, she had mental breakdowns. So she tried to not be so much of a worrywart. It really wasn't working. She worried about everything from grades to relationships.

Sakura came up to her, her hands intertwined with her hair, trying to pull it into a ponytail. She had a couple of twisties on her wrists.

"You okay, Hina?"

Hinata sighed. "I don't know, 'Kura. I might have messed up something big time."

Sakura looked like she was about to say something more, but just then, Tenten came out from her room and shouted, "Twenty minutes, guys! Get a move on!"

Hinata started scrambling for her clothes and her bag.

Sakura moved over to her own stuff, and said, "Hina, we'll talk later."

Hinata nodded and she scooped up all of her toiletries and her clothes and headed for the bathroom. She was torn. She wanted to see Gaara so bad, to fix things between them. She definitely didn't want to lose his friendship, especially since she didn't just want to be friends with him. But on the other hand, she had never been good with confrontations. Actually, she was terrible with confrontations. The years with her father had taught her that. She would rather hide under a rock for the rest of her days than stand up to him.

So to do what she wanted or to do what she should?

Tough choice.

She knew that she should go and talk to him and apologize at least. Gaara deserved that from her. But at the same time, that rock was looking really comfortable about now . . .

Hinata slipped into her purple t-shirt and pink shorts. She arranged her bracelets, making sure that they were still in place and that she hadn't lost any. She remembered this really cute white bracelet that she had once had, but she had lost it when she had taken a shower . . . she was upset for a while about it. She loved that bracelet.

Hinata rolled her shoulders back and headed out of the bathroom. Everyone was in the commons, sleepily eating granola bars or applying aloe to sunburn that they had gotten yesterday. Ouch. Most people got sunburnt during the two weeks of band camp, but getting it the first day was rough. They would have to deal with the pain for the rest of the two weeks. She hoped that they had packed enough aloe. Hinata herself had two bottles of it. As pale as she was, if she didn't get burned, it would be a miracle. Hinata didn't have much faith in that miracle.

Hinata shouldered her drawstring bag and her towel. Hinata looked over to Sakura. "You ready to go?"

"Give me a second. I need to find my deodorant."

Hinata rummaged through her suitcase. "Here, just use mine. I don't want to be late." She tossed it to Sakura who caught it with the grace of a well-trained guard girl. She pulled on her band jacket while she waited for Sakura.

They left the cabin a couple of minutes later.

The morning was a bit cold, even for August. The dew was on the ground, and like every morning, all the band kids would have to change their shoes before the morning block. Early morning block was a pain and it always would be. Hinata shoved her hands into her pockets. There was the slight tickling of her bracelet charms.

Sakura slipped another hairband onto her ponytail. She was wearing a dark blue jacket over her pink tank top and black pressure shorts under her tie-dye shorts. Most of the guard girls wore them when their shorts were too short or to avoid chaffing. Usually it was a mix of both. No girl wanted to have to break out the Gold Bond.

"Is everything okay, Hina? You look kind of down."

Hinata paused for a moment before turning to Sakura and smiling. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I've just got some things to work out."

"You sure you're okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine."

"You _sure_?"

Hinata closed her eyes for a moment in exasperation. "Don't worry, 'Kura. I'm fine. It's nothing for you to be concerned about. Besides, what's up with you and Sai?"

Sakura didn't seem to like the change in subject, but the girl only sighed and talked about how the band was planning to feature her, and only her, during the entire second song. At the beginning of the third song, Ino was going to show up in a completely black costume and challenge Sakura to a duel. They were the two visual soloists for the band. It was an unoriginal good-vs.-evil plot, but it would win theme points for the judges. Especially if they do it right.

And unlike most good-vs.-evil plots, evil was going to win in the end. There was a reason that their show was titled "Darkness Evermore."

It was pretty cool.

Hinata shoved her hands deeper into her pockets. She didn't want Sakura to pry into her life, especially since she had never told her closest friend about her secrets and she felt kind of guilty about it now. She needed someone to talk to about her problems, but no one could help her since she hadn't told anyone about her issues. More regret.

Hinata made her way into the assembly hall and grabbed her clarinet and water bottle. They didn't need to dot books for early morning practice. She and Sakura parted ways, Hinata heading to the field, Sakura leading the guard girls in running. Hinata dropped her stuff down on the field with the rest of the clarinets. Kiba gave her a cheerful greeting and Hinata gave him a small smile. She just wasn't up for cheerful smiles.

They were relatively early compared to the rest of them. Choji had Naruto's tuba, which meant that his shoulders were acting up again. Naruto kept rubbing the back of his neck as Choji carried both his own baritone and Naruto's instrument. He didn't like to have anyone else deal with his issues.

Naruto had had shoulder issues since freshman year, when he had joined marching band. He had been a tiny little freshman back then, until he had hit his growth spurt the march of that year. Then he practically stood on level with all the guys in the band. But his shoulder problems remained. The tuba put a lot of stress on them, and he could often be seen between practices with an ice pack glued to his arm. No one knew what happened to his shoulders, all they knew was that it was bad. It was only Tuesday of band camp and his shoulder was already messed up. It was going to be a long two weeks for him. It was going to be a long two weeks for all of them.

The battery came out the field as a group as they always did, Sasuke leading the pack. As they approached, the snare drum's eyes immediately went to Naruto for a moment before they snapped back to Ginny, who was talking. Naruto looked away. He had noticed Sasuke's eyes on them. Gaara was behind them his hands on the shoulders of his carrier. Hinata wanted to look at him and smile, but her eyes were seemingly glued to the intricacy of the toes of her shoes.

Suddenly, streak of red flew dangerously across the road, going down a ramp leading the field, flying like something possessed. As the band followed its progress with their eyes, Hinata was pretty sure that she had seen the golf-cart do a few u-turns and a particularly dangerous 360. When the cart came to a stop, the band looking at it with a mix of awe and concern, Naruto stepped forward.

"Okay, who let Lee drive the golf cart?"

Lee got out of the cart and gave them his "good-guy" pose: hip cocked, hand on the waist, giving a thumbs-up and a brilliant smile to the audience while winking. He had sunglasses already on his bowl haircut and his typical green ensemble was in place.

"That is the power of Youth, my friends! Now run with that power! Feel it build inside you and cause you to strive to get better! And if you do not feel the Youth, keep running until you do!"

There was a collective sigh from the band, with the words, "that's Lee for you."

When no one seemed to move, Neji got out of the golf cart, got a drumstick and threw it down towards the band with force. It missed a trumpet girl, named Chica, by two inches. The drumstick stood up straight in the damp ground.

Neji got out of the golf cart with an aura of darkness—the darkness that said "I'm going to make you work until you drop and you aren't going to complain a bit about it."

"Run, you foolish children! Run like your life depends on it, because if you don't I will kill you!"

The band started sprinting across the field, treading the white lines. Neji rolled his shoulders back and Hinata could hear him say, "Nothing like a few death threats in the morning," to Shino, the brass tech.

Hinata was trailing at the edge of the pack. She was one of the slowest runners in the band, and she knew it. Usually she would be trying harder, but she had had an asthma attack only yesterday and didn't want to risk another one so soon. So she wasn't running as hard as she could be. She saw Naruto and Sasuke nearly a half a lap in front of her. Unlike before, they were running next to each other, rather than maintaining that three feet. Neither of them talked though, and they didn't seem to be looking at each other.

For a moment, Hinata wondered why she had a feeling that something else was odd.

Then she realized—where was Gaara?

"Looking for me?"

Hinata' head whipped around faster than she knew that it could. There, a few steps behind her was Gaara, acting like he had been there the entire time. He probably had.

Gaara looked good. He was wearing black shorts and a clean white t-shirt, which he would probably remove sometime during the morning practice along with the rest of the battery guys. His red hair was a burst of color on his pale skin, and his forehead had that same gauze bandage that it had every day. Hinata remembered the tattoo that she had seen two days ago, on Sunday, and wondered when she'd get to see it again, if at all.

Hinata looked at him in shock. "What? No! But anyway, why are you back here?"

He raised an eyebrow. He was running comfortably, not even breaking a sweat. It made Hinata feel a bit self-conscious about how hard she was working to keep up this very slow pace for him. "What do you mean? We all have to run, don't we?"

"Yes, of course we all have to run, but . . . w-well, I just thought that you would be mad at me after last night." Hinata looked away in shame.

"Why? You didn't do anything wrong." Gaara looked truly confused by her words.

Hinata blushed and smiled. "Thank you for that. It just that . . . well, when you mentioned that . . . about what had happened . . . a-and e-everything—"

"You know, you don't have to feel obligated to tell me anything," he said bluntly. "I may have figured it out, but I'm in no need to know the background at this exact moment. You cross that bridge when you come for it."

"Really? Thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. Are you always this polite?"

Hinata blushed. "Is there something wrong with me being polite?" she asked, with a touch of defensiveness in her tone. Her pure-bred manners tended to come out when she was nervous. And Gaara, with him so close to her and with her being able to feel his shoulder when they ran, made her very nervous. She was partially ashamed that her default setting was prim and proper.

"No, there's nothing wrong with it. It's actually pretty cute."

Hinata blushed again. "R-really?"

"Yep. But I think that I like the blush and the stutter better." Gaara smirked.

Hinata, becoming more comfortable with him, rolled her eyes. "I hate the way that I blush and stutter. It's been a pain for me for a long time. You should have seen my stutter my freshman year."

"Too bad I missed it then."

Hinata laughed. They were coming up on the rest of the group. Gaara gave her a half-smile before heading off to talk to the rest of the battery, and Hinata headed to grab her clarinet. Hinata glanced back over her shoulder at Gaara.

"Hey, Gaara."

"Hmm?"

"You should come with me to change shoes after practice."

Gaara smirked. "Sure."

Hinata turned away with a smile on her face as she crouched down to grab her clarinet. She snapped open her case.

Naruto came up to her while she was putting her clarinet together. "Hey."

Hinata nodded to him while she placed her reed in her mouth. "Yes, Naruto?"

"Are you friends with Gaara or something?"

Hinata shoved down the blush. Gaara may have thought that it was cute, but she was not okay with blushing constantly for the rest of her life. She was just . . . okay with blushing in front of him.

"I-I'm not sure if you would say friends . . ."

Naruto laughed. "Don't worry, he's a cool guy. But I'm not the only one who's thinking there's something going on. And most of them wouldn't phrase it as nice as me. He is the Demon after all."

"Oh."

"Just think about it okay? You're a nice girl, Hinata. Gaara's a nice guy. But no matter what you do, people are going to talk," he said with a grimace, which was odd on Naruto's naturally cheerful happy. Seriously. The guy's default setting was peppy. "You have to decide what you want them to talk about. I'm friends with both of you and I don't want either of you to get hurt. That would majorly suck for me. I know a thing or two about broken relationships."

Now why, oh why, did he look over at the battery when he said that?

Hinata nodded with what Naruto was saying. Naruto didn't seem like it with the goofing off and the constant smiles, but he was known to be a good advice giver and very world-wise. If he was approaching her, he knew that there was something that was up.

Hinata looked over to the battery, where Gaara was looking back, watching them carefully.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know what happened to Gaara? I mean, like before?"

Naruto looked confused. "Why?"

"I want to know what his tattoo means."

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "I'm friends with Gaara, but even I don't know that. Gaara's not one for telling secrets, as I'm sure you've found out. You'll have to ask him that yourself."

Neji hit the gock block a few times, signaling that their break was done. Naruto shouldered his tuba and headed out to the field, while Hinata adjusted her reed on her clarinet.

Naruto had given her more to think about, as if she didn't have enough to already.

She had already figured out that she had a crush on Gaara. But did she want to risk her reputation? She didn't pay attention to rumors, but she was pretty certain that everyone else did, by the way that they were whispering and looking at her. What did his tattoo mean? Did he have a past that was as complicated as hers was?

As she was about to head out to the field, her phone went off. Not having enough time, she just grabbed the phone and shoved it into her pocket.

She glanced at it as she walking out to the basics block.

_You have: 2 new voicemails from 937-555-8786_

Hinata crushed her phone in her hand. Damn him, she thought. She would recognize her father's cell phone number anywhere.

Not wanting to deal with it, she deleted the messages without even looking at them. She couldn't risk another asthma attack, and she would have one if she even heard his voice.

Later, when her phone was empty of all voicemails, calls or messages from her father, Hinata would wonder why he was so desperate to get a hold of her.

Oh, well.

His problems weren't hers.

Her father had proven that a long time ago.

* * *

**A/N: _Glossary:_**

**_Carriers: _The drumline uses carriers to carry their drums. There are carriers for bass drums, tenor drums, snare drums and multis. The only part of a battery that doesn't have carriers would be the cymbol line, because cymbols are light enough to carry. Carriers go over the shoulders, so they put a lot of stress on the back and shoulders. Needless to say, after ten hours of carrying the things, it hurts a lot. **

_**Theme**_**: Every marching band show has a theme if you look close enough. Some are more obvious than others. The themes are more for the judges than the audience. Everything is based off of the theme, like flags, guard costumes, props, music, etc. If you look close, you can see the theme in everything that is done. **

**Sooo . . . what do you think Hinata's dad is calling her about? **

**And what went down in her past? And in Gaara's past? And for that matter, Sasuke's and Naruto's past? **

**You'll never know. **

**Yet. **

**Next chapter will be in the view of our ever-loveable Naruto. Well, I think that it will be. It's either him or Sakura. I haven't really decided which part of my story will come before the other. It'll be important either way. And it will continue the plot some more. **

**See you next week! **

**~ Shard of Freedom**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hey, guys. Here's chapter eleven. It's a big chapter a features a point-of-view switch from Naruto to Sasuke. Don't worry, it's well-placed and well-executed. One of my major fanfiction pet peeves is the fact that people switch point of views randomly or label them with "so-and-so's POV." It bothers me, and it won't work anywhere other than . That's not how people should write. But this is just me ranting. RANT MODE OFF. **

**Anyway, welcome to chapter eleven. Eleven, eleven, make a wish! There's going to be a glossary at the end. **

**Read on, my dear comrades . . .**

* * *

Chapter Eleven

Out of Sight, Out of Mind—But It's Still There

_I remember reading Harry Potter as a kid. I had always loved the stories and the adventures, and the characters just stuck to your heart. But out of all the characters, out of Harry and Ron and Hermione and Ginny, I loved Dumbledore most of all. I don't know what drew me to him. But I loved him most. I would marvel at his power, his wisdom, his guidance. When I heard that J. K. Rowling had outed him as gay, I felt a new sort of kinship that I hadn't felt before. I was thirteen. By this point, I was fairly certain that I was gay. I was like "Go, Dumbledore!" He was a well-loved character before they knew that he was gay. Why wouldn't he be that way afterward? _

_And then I heard all the debates. The conversations that said the J. K. Rowling had no proof that he was, that there was no foundation. That it was poisoning the minds of children to have a homosexual mentor-figure in a book. Even more so because he was a teacher. Did people really think like that? Was it such a terrible thing? They had loved him before and they still loved him now—as long as he wasn't gay. When I discovered this, it fully hit me what my life would be like if I was gay. It would be hard, but wouldn't it worse if I lied to myself all those years? _

_Two years later, I came out that I was gay. I told my parents. Mom smiled and said that she was fine with it—but I wasn't allowed to have any more of my sleepovers with my guy friends. Girls were fine. Dad laughed and told me that he had known for a while. I wasn't obvious about it, nor was a stereotypical gay guy, but Dad could always tell. When I told my friends, not a single one abandoned me. Sure, a few trickled away, but I'm not sure if that had a direct relation to my gayness. When I was thinking about that, I remembered Dumbledore and the hate and denial that he still got. People still claimed that J. K. Rowling had no proof that he was gay. But isn't she the author? Isn't that the whole point of being an author? That you can do whatever you want to your characters because they're your characters? _

_Another thought plagued my mind. _

_If he was straight, would anyone have even cared? _

_-From the Journal of Naruto Uzumaki_

* * *

Naruto walked through his cabin—Sugar Lodge 5—after the early morning block. He walked around the mess of shoes, clothes, and way too many food wrappers to be healthy. But he would be lying if he said that he hadn't contributed to the mess. He wasn't super clean when it came to his own things.

Naruto sat down on his bed. It was breakfast time, and he would have to leave for the assembly hall sooner rather than later. He changed his shoes quickly, getting rid of the damp socks as well. As he set his shoes back down on the floor, he was slow to return to his original position.

Sasuke.

Damn it, why couldn't things be straight forward?

Sasuke wasn't gay. He couldn't be gay. If he was gay, everything had fallen apart. Naruto knew how to act when he knew that Sasuke was straight. He had no idea how to act if Sasuke was gay. That would mean that he was available—available to flirt with, to be with—and it wouldn't be out of bounds. Naruto had no clue how to act around someone who wasn't out of bounds. It was even worse that he liked Sasuke. He had been attracted, infatuated maybe, with Sasuke back when they had been friends during freshman year. And now . . .

Naruto brought his hand to his lips.

Sasuke had kissed him. _Him. _Suddenly, that attraction was coming back, and it wasn't simple anymore. It wasn't just infatuation or attraction. You don't forgive someone for slighting you for two years because of a simple _attraction._

Not love. It couldn't be love. Naruto was eighteen. He didn't know a thing about relationships or love or feelings or any of that stuff. Let's see, how many gay guys were there in northern Kentucky that would be willing to date him? A grand total of . . . zero. Well, maybe a half, if Sasuke counted. Naruto didn't understand how to cross that line between liking someone and _liking _someone. He had the hardest time to figure out the difference between admiring someone and loving someone. It seemed to be so cut and dry for other people. Was he the only one who had such difficulty with this?

Naruto threaded his hands forcefully through his spiky hair. God, why couldn't things be simple? Why couldn't he just know what was going on? What his feelings were? Because if, God dammit, that kiss replayed through his mind one more time, he might have to go and murder Sasuke for making him so confused, no matter what unwritten law of silence was between them.

"_This doesn't change anything between us." _

Naruto growled. "Who the hell says that someone after kissing them?" Naruto murmured between ground teeth.

"I could answer your question, but sadly, I'm lacking certain information."

Naruto looked up at the voice that had interrupted his not-so-silent musings. Shikamaru stood halfway in the room, leaning against the door frame with a cigarette between his fingers. His hair was in his traditional ponytail, but he was wearing a black wife beater, and Naruto had to swear that his dad gave him military training or something, because Shikamaru was ripped. He had lean muscles under the shirt and in his arms. For a guy who claimed to be lazier than all sloths in the world combined, he had a God-given body. They may have been best friends and Shikamaru may have been straight, but Naruto had a right to look.

As Naruto sighed, Shikamaru took another drag from his cigarette.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "You do know that the camp doesn't allow you to smoke in here right?" He said, pointing to a prominent no-smoking sign on the wall.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "And, like most traffic laws, those signs are ignored by the general populace. I am a part of the general populace."

"You get caught, you pay the price."

"The day I get caught is the day that hell freezes over. Are you kidding? Asuma was smoking while the staff of the camp was explaining the rules of no-smoking." Shikamaru scoffed and tapped the ashes.

"Still a nasty habit. You're the only kid in the entire band that smokes." Naruto rolled his eyes while rolling back in right shoulder. It had been hurting him since the morning practice for no apparent reason. Well, that was how it normally went anyway.

"And you're the only gay kid in the entire band. Unless, of course, my suspicions are correct."

"I sense something bad coming. Your suspicions are never wrong and never good."

Shikamaro took another slow drag. As he blew out smoke, watching it dissipate in the light, he spoke. "I'll tell you later. Anyway, I hear that you're tearing up the Assassin people. Four people since yesterday. At this rate it going to be you and Sasuke left in the finals."

"Me and Sasuke?" Naruto's voice seemed to get smaller. "Sasuke decided to play this year?"

Shikamaru nodded, looking at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, gauging his reaction. _Great, _Naruto thought, _Shika decided to play mind games. I'm screwed now. _

"Yeah. He decided that this was the year to take away the prize from you. Everyone knows that you two are the best Assassin players that we have. It doesn't help that you two are always surrounded by people. I hear that the kids that have your names are just giving up and waiting for the Death Squad to come and get them."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I'm not that good at Assassin. I've won the past two years, but that was luck. And besides, Sasuke didn't play then. He'll be tough competition."

"It's because it's tough competition that I've been making a decent fortune from the betting that's been going around camp." Shikamaru smirked.

"Only you would." Naruto watched Shikamaru carefully. "Is everything okay? You seem a bit different, like something's nagging in the back of your mind."

Shikamaru sighed and put out his cigarette on the sole of his shoe. "Let's just say that I've gotten a reality check. And just so that you know, you have no right to ask if I'm okay while you're sitting here and sulking about God-knows-what because something unknown went down between you and Sasuke." Naruto started to speak but Shikamaru put up a hand. "Naruto, I'm like the smartest person here. I can tell when things go down between you and pretty boy. So let's maintain a you-stay-out-of-my-business-and-I'll –stay-out-of-yours relationship for a while. We've both got issues."

"Hey, speaking of issues, what's going on with you and that vibe player, Temari?"

Shikamaru tried to play it off like he usually would, but Naruto could tell that they had treaded onto an embarrassing subject for Shikamaru. Naruto smirked.

"What are you talking about Naruto? There's nothing going on between me and Temari. Where would you get that ridiculous notion?"

"From the fact that you play chess with her every meal time and during most of your free time and the fact that I saw her and you talking last night."

"Tch. Troublesome. I don't want a girlfriend, Naruto."

"Yeah, and I'm a purple hippopotamus."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Now, now, Naruto. If we're going to talk about relationships, let's talk about yours and Sasuke's shall we?" Shikamaru said with a smirk.

Naruto quickly got up off of the bed. His voice high and innocent, he said, "Well, then, we had better get moving so that we're not late to band."

Shikamaru smiled mischievously, but let Naruto slide and went along with it. "Because God forbid we should have more than two hours off at a time."

"But Shika, we do," Naruto said. "You get a minuscule five hours to sleep each night."

Shikamaru shoved him. "Oh, shove off, you."

* * *

Practice went by slowly. Neji was having a field day calling them cattle and telling them to move faster. Whenever he told them to move, the band turned up their face to him in the scaffold and "moo'd" back to him, making him regret his earlier cattle comment.

Sasuke absolutely hated morning practices. Morning practices meant that they were learning drill, which meant that he didn't have his drum. And sometimes he just needed to hit something. Even if Kakashi would make them to do the rep over because his rim shots were way too high. It was nice to let it out.

The battery was naturally back field for most of the show, except when they came forward once and a while to feature. Which meant that they generally had a nice view of the band from before. It also meant that they were close to the tubas during warm up and basics, which was even more awkward because of a certain tuba section leader that he was going out of his way to ignore. He did not want to deal with this at the current time.

Sasuke only had one question for himself.

What the hell had he been thinking?

He didn't ignore Naruto just to kiss him suddenly when they reconnect for a moment. That was not why he had ignored him. And besides, all of his actions had consequences. He did not want to go back to where things were left standing two years ago. He didn't want to go back to the awkward friendship that he was convinced neither of them wanted, he didn't want to go back to his family life which was getting increasingly complicated, he didn't want to go back to the week of his life that he could never get back. He didn't want to go back to any of that.

Sasuke had been happy just where he was, with the past gone and the present pleasant, if not perfect.

Then Sai had come back. Then Sasuke had screwed up his two-year silence with Naruto.

_Sai . . . _Sasuke gritted his teeth clenched his pale hands.

He did not want to think of his brother. They hadn't parted on good terms when he had left for college a year early to get out of their household, leaving Sasuke to pick up the shattered glass of their home life and in turn, getting cut himself. Things had gotten difficult for Sasuke back then. Nearly three years ago. Who the hell did he think he was? And why did Sai not even warn him that he was coming back? Before things had gone sour, they had been the closest of brothers. Sai should have at least given Sasuke a warning that he was coming back. Fifteen years of being brothers meant that Sai could have at least picked up a phone when he left.

At the same time, Sasuke was happy that Sai had come back. Part of him wanted to forgive and forget with Sai, to let everything go and get back the brother that he had known. He had missed that kind of comfort. But another part of him was reeling from everything that he had lost because Sai had left their family behind, and that part was the stronger of the two in his mind. He was perfectly fine with giving his brother the cold shoulder until he figured out what he wanted to do with Sai. He deserved that much.

Ginny looked over at Sasuke, trying to get eye contact while moving around her bass drum. "Hey, is everything okay? You seem kind of distracted."

Sasuke glanced over at her. "Don't worry, Ginny. I'll be fine. I've just got some things to work out."

Sasuke then glanced over at Gaara, who was giving him a knowing look.

_He knows what all of this is about. He's always been too perceptive for his own good. _

But Gaara knew when to keep his mouth quiet. At least, Sasuke knew that he had enough blackmail on everyone in the battery to keep all of them silent for the rest of their lives.

Practice moved by slowly, and it was even slower since Sasuke spent most of his time between staring at Naruto and figuring out his feelings and staring at Sai and figuring out his feelings. Neither of them were helpful ways to spend his time. If anything, he got more confused the more that he thought about it. It was official. Sasukr thought way too much.

And since he was spending all of his time watching Naruto and Sai, he knew that Naruto's shoulder was bothering him. He could just tell.

Naruto immediately switched his tuba from shoulder to shoulder whenever the rep had ended. Haley, a fiery, Hispanic girl, kept looking over to Naruto and asking him questions that he was too far away to hear. But he could tell by the look on concern that was on her face that it was something serious. Naruto's shoulders were always a serious issue.

Naruto was someone who toke the mantra of "fight through the pain" to the extreme. He fought his hurt to the point where it was masochistic. He never told anyone that he was hurting. Even now, he smiled and seemed to tell Haley that he was fine, which was obviously a lie, considering that he kept wincing. There was no way that Naruto was fine.

Sasuke had seen Naruto suffer from his shoulder problems all through band. During his freshman year, Sasuke was the one who got Naruto ice packs and helped him out during the breaks. And, when Sasuke had sprained his ankle a few days later, they sat on the sidelines together and talked about random, unknown things. He couldn't even remember what they talked about now. But whatever it had been, they had both been happy and cheerful. Sasuke had smiled a lot more back then than he did now.

For the two years after that, Sasuke and Naruto had parted and Sasuke watched from the band field as Shikamaru and Chouji took his place of helping out Naruto, with occasional help from Haley, who was obviously his favorite underclassman. He watched as Naruto winced when picking up his tuba and when Chouji carried it back along with his baritone to prevent Naruto from hurting himself anymore.

Sasuke had been replaced.

And then he remembered the times that they had shared and the times when he saw Naruto glancing over when he thought that Sasuke wasn't looking. Sasuke knew that Naruto was not the kind of person to replace one best friend with another.

Sasuke thought of that kiss again. Okay, scratch that. Maybe best friends wasn't exactly the right term anymore.

Neji tapped the microphone. "Okay, everybody reset to page 32? Good. This'll be the last run of the morning block. Eight and out, Lee!"

Lee raised his hands. "Set!"

All chatter stopped as instruments went to their positions.

Lee kept one hand still as the other set the metronome. "Page 32 to 41. Move sixteen, eight, eight, hold four, hold eight, move three eights, six, hold nineteen! Met goes away."

The last run of the morning block—if they did it correctly. If not, "last run" became "run until you do it right."

It was at a pretty fast tempo—166 clicks. But it was nothing that the Konoha Marching Band veterans hadn't handled before. Sasuke carefully crab-stepped to his dots, being carefully to keep his upper body center.

It was before the hold four.

Naruto went down.

It was sudden, unexpected, and entirely unnerving. One moment everything was fine, the next, Naruto was on his knees, trying to pry the tuba off of his shoulder, which seemed to have gone out of him. He didn't see able to get up.

In a band of Konoha's size, it wasn't too easy to see a long tuba go down on the thirty-five. The band members that were close to him tried to let the staff members know that they were a man down, but like the good band members that they were, they didn't move from their set. Eventually, after the holds, everyone decided to give Naruto a wide birth and hope that the staff got the picture.

Sasuke couldn't concentrate on the rep. All that mattered was the fact that Naruto was hurt—and he was probably hurt bad.

When Lee put his hands down, Sasuke pulled his carrier and dropped it onto the grass, snare attached, not carrying that Kakashi was going to yell at him later. Kakashi could do whatever he wanted.

Naruto was hurt.

It was a sign of how well-liked Naruto was that everyone gathered around the wounded tuba the instant that the rep ended. Everyone cared for him. Someone had gotten the tuba off his shoulders and he was trying not to let the tears of pain escape.

Neji shouted into the microphone. "Give the guy some space would you!"

After that, most of the onlookers moved away, trying not to worry. But Sasuke and Shikamaru stayed with him. He looked behind him to see Ginny and Gaara awkwardly holding his carrier between them, trying not to hit the rim on their own drums.

Gaara sent him a look and Ginny mouthed "Do what you need to do."

With that, Sasuke waved Shikamaru off, and shouldered Naruto's tuba himself. When Naruto looked up from his pain induced haze, he was shocked to find Sasuke there looking down on him.

"What? What are you doing here?"

Sasuke shrugged, which he found was a little difficult to do with a tuba on his shoulders. "Why wouldn't I be?"

There were a billion answers to that question.

Naruto looked him oddly, but his face screwed up in pain once more when he moved his shoulders. "I thought that you would've left me."

Sasuke sighed. "Don't worry, Naru. I'm here for you."

_Naru. _

It seemed that with that nickname that Sasuke hadn't meant to say, something was bridged once again.

* * *

**A/N:_ Glossary: _**

**_Rep:_ band slang for repition. When we do a chunk of drill- like pages 32 to 41- or a simple page-32 to 33- it's called a rep. **

_**Run**_**: band slang for runthrough. This can be the entire show, as it usually is, or just what they know to that point of time. **

_**"Eight and out": **_**that's short term for eight clicks with the met and then the met goes away, so we have to go off of our conductor's hands. In this case, that would be Lee. **

_**The long stream of numbers that Lee says before a rep: **_**that's the count structure of the chunk of drill that they were doing. It's not super prevalent, but that long stream of numbers was only nine pages, and a typical marching band show was close to a hundred. So there's a lot of focus that has to go into marching band. **

**That should be it. **

**I hope you liked this chapter. It's not super interesting, but it's plot productive. Don't worry, you'll know the secrets by the end. And while things might be easy between Naruto and Sasuke now, there's a lot beneath the surface that's just waiting to come out. So don't think that it's over between these two. **

**I don't have much time to write this author's note because I have to go, but before I do, I just want to let you all know: **

**Next chapter will be in Sakura's point of view . . . with a possible tiny tidbit of Sai. **

**See you next week! Review! Thanks for your support!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey. It's been a week, so here's chapter twelve. It's in Sakura's point of view, but I intend to return to GaaHina soon. There should be a short glossary at the end of this chapter. Because I love you all, I'm going to try to cut down on the band lingo in this story. I don't want all of you to get too confused. **

**In other news, I have another story coming out! It's called _Legend of Zelda: Shadow Reign_ and it will be out next Tuesday. But don't worry, I'll continue this one just as much. But it's good to return to my roots: adventure fiction! I'm better at adventure stories than romance stories, so if you've played the game _Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess_ or just like Legend of Zelda, you should check it out! Adventure/Action fics are my best type of story. **

**Continue on to Chapter Twelve!**

* * *

Chapter Twelve 

Nevermore

_List of Things That Need Fixing_

_My iPod_

_My precalc grade from last year_

_My new school schedule _

_My priorities (according to my mother) _

_My laptop's keyboard _

_My shelves _

_The pink sandals Hina bought me for my birthday_

_The dryer downstairs _

_Mom's iron_

_The doorknob on the door to my room_

_My life_

_My heart_

* * *

Sakura couldn't keep track of band drama anymore. Her heart had gone out to Naruto after he had gotten hurt, but she couldn't really say that she knew him all that well. She knew him mainly through Hinata, who knew him mainly through Haley, who was Stella's friend. So, they weren't really close friends. The longest time that they had hung out together was when Hinata had a crush on him and always hung out with him and dragged her along.

Naruto had Sasuke and Shikamaru to watch over him anyway. Shikamaru was the one who helped Naruto get icepacks and carried his tuba out to practice. Sakura had watched Shikamaru help Naruto out all through the lunch hour.

Sasuke, on the other hand, looked as if he was obligated to be there. He never got too close to Naruto, but looked at him like he was the world's greatest puzzle. Perhaps, to Sasuke, he was. Ino had always been the best at relationships in the band—even if she did go to the extreme someone—but Sakura had her natural girl sense. There was something going on.

Of course, Sakura had heard of the falling out that Sasuke and Naruto had had the beginning of their sophomore year. She had gotten to witness some of it when she joined the band her freshman year. She had seen the awkward silences and the near-words that were begging to be spoken. She had seen it. Sakura wasn't blind, after all. But now it was even worse. It was like Naruto and Sasuke were trying to bridge their friendship, but both of them knew that they were wrong. Sasuke especially. He looked at Naruto like there was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off.

If anyone figured out what was going on between the two of them, it would be a miracle.

Sasuke had been standing on the wall behind Naruto for most of lunch. He didn't say anything, but stared at Naruto the entire time, trying to will the answers out of him. Whatever was going on in Sasuke's mind, it bothered him a lot.

And speaking of Sasuke, Sai walked to the practice field. He was wearing a loose black t-shirt and low gray sweatpants. What was up with Uchiha guys? Were they impervious to the heat or something?

Sakura blushed slightly when Sai looked over his shoulder and saw her staring. Sakura wasn't a very shy girl—she generally left that to Hinata—but something about Sai's look made her feel self-conscious. And she hadn't even done anything wrong.

She knew very little about Sai. She knew that he had joined the Madison Scouts for three years while he worked his way through college. She knew that he preferred rifle and saber to flag, although he was good at all three. He knew how to play a little trumpet and mellophone, but had never taken them up as anything more than a hobby. She knew that he was a kind person, but rarely showed his emotion on his face.

Sakura thought that he was a lot like her.

When Sakura glanced over her shoulder, she saw Hinata and Gaara walking out of the assembly hall behind her. Hinata was blushing slightly and had her dainty fingers close to her mouth as she giggled. If Hinata was trying to get Gaara to be her boyfriend, she was doing a job. There was no way that anyone could deny Hinata's bubble of cuteness. Gaara was stoic, but he was talking to her, which was more than Sakura had seen him do. When they parted, Hinata dropped her phone. As Gaara gave it back to her, their hands brushed.

There went Sakura's good mood.

She tried to be happy that Hinata was finally getting on the dating scene. She had been pushing it for a while, since she herself went through boyfriends like they were interchangeable merchandise. After getting turned down by Naruto, Hinata seemed to have lost her courage when it came to boys. It was good that she was finally coming out of her shell and trying to find a guy.

But did it have to be Gaara?

Not that there was anything wrong with him. But he wasn't known as the Demon for nothing. Hinata's reputation would be shot to hell twice over if she even considered dating him. And considering how many times that she blushed in front of him, Hinata was definitely considering it.

Hinata needed a guy in her life. Just not that guy.

But Sakura didn't have a say in the matter. She didn't have control over Hinata's love life, and she had no right to even say that she didn't think it was good to hang around Gaara. If it was what Hinata wanted, she would support her until the end, and then Sakura would save Hinata when she fell. That was how the relationship was going to work out. Sakura just knew it.

Sakura had experience with guys. She tried not to get attached, and as a general rule, kept guys, even boyfriends, at an arm's length. She didn't need to get close to them. They were a distraction, an escape from everyday life. But then Sakura got tired, or she realized that she didn't have time to go on dates, or her shift had moved for when she volunteered at the hospital. At that point in time, she would drop whatever guy was hanging on her arm like a bad habit.

Sakura had a future. She had med school and drum corps. She had her grades and the dream that she would be a well-respected doctor one day. She didn't need a guy in her future.

Which meant that she didn't need a guy in her present. Sakura had a little piece of floor that she stood on. It was solid, it was unmovable. She never ventured away from it. And if any guy even tried to put a crack in her sturdy, steady floor, Sakura would mess them up. No one messed with her dreams. Don't get attached. It'll keep you from what you want to do.

Sakura didn't like to think that she had commitment problems. She was far too young for that. But she didn't need a guy to feel good about herself, or to make her into a woman. She was fine the way that she was, and she would achieve her dreams without anyone else. She would do it on her own merits, and she didn't need that helping hand. Her dream was her life. Which meant that everything else, even a guy, was back burner to that. High school wasn't the "greatest time of her life." It was a necessary means to an end. And the end justifies the means.

Sakura adjusted her flag bag on her shoulders. It was after lunch, just before afternoon block. While the winds were inside in the air conditioning, working on music, the guard was outside on the band field, going through work and praying that they didn't get sunburned. A few years back, one girl had got sunburn that was so bad that she looked like a lobster for the entirety of band camp. Three days later, she ran out of aloe. That girl had a tough time of things. She didn't come back for a second year.

Quitting. It was a banned word in Konoha Marching Band. If you were bad at band, it was fine. But if you were good, if you had potential, and you quit in spite of it, it was basically like shunning the entire marching band. So, in return, the entire marching band shunned you. One of Naruto's rookies, named Tyler, quit before his second year on tuba. Sakura saw him in the halls now and again. She never said hi. And Sakura said hi to _everybody_.

Sakura dropped her stuff on the field next to the others. A few flag girls, named Tina and Lizzie, were working on the new work. Tina was a veteran and a sophomore, and Lizzie was a freshman. Tina was showing Lizzie how to do a one-and-a-half without dropping it. Lizzie kept doing a double.

Sakura stretched her hands over her head and pulled out her rifle. She was wearing an orange cami under a pink and purple flowered tank top with black pressure shorts and pink Sophie shorts. It was standard wear for guard girls. Sakura dropped her rifle and pulled on her fingerless skin-colored guard gloves before walking out to an empty area of the field and working on the new stuff that they had learned this morning.

During the first song—and for most of the second—Sakura was featured opposite Ino, her rather evil counterpart. Sakura's uniform was going to be all white with a white mask, while Ino was going to have an all-black mask and costume. Feuding guard girls. Where had Sakura heard that before? Oh, wait it was called her life. But Sakura got to be the white girl, which had the bigger part, even if Ino did win in the end. Ino and Sakura had had more than one bad conversation with Ino over it.

While Sakura was practicing, Kurenai came out and clapped her heads, her ringed eyes clear and alert.

"Okay! We're going to be working hard today! Flags, go with Melissa. Weapons, you're with me!" Kurenai paused and turned to Sakura, who had begun to move to her flag bag to get out her saber for the first song. "Sakura, you should keep that rifle. You'll be working with Sai on your solo."

Sakura looked a bit confused. Then she nodded and hefted her rifle over her shoulder before turning to the dark-haired guard tech that was currently waiting for her expectantly.

Sakura gave him an uneasy smile. He gave a smile back, and Sakura couldn't be sure if it was fake or real. He was holding his own rifle in his hands. He had one with a white strap rather than the black ones that the band used. He gestured her to follow her. They moved across the road to the empty space that was behind the assembly hall. She could vaguely hear the pit in front of the assembly hall, going through scales. She watched as the tubas marched through the woods, with Neji in front of them, tapping the gock block and having them march in circles and other odd shapes. Sakura had never had to track in her life. That was wind thing. They marched in a straight line—or circles, as Neji was making them do—and played their music, in order to get their feet in time with the music. It was a typical practice in band camp.

Sakura followed Sai behind the building, which meant that there was shade. It was hot out on the field. Sometimes, Sakura wished that a tree would grow in the middle of the fifty yard line. It would be a lot cooler then, although they would have to march around it.

Sai stopped and leaned his rifle against his legs. "Okay. We're going to work on your solo for a while. First off, I'll give you the beat and then you just show me what you know. We'll go through the rest of it later."

Sakura nodded and got into position, with a smile tossed to an unknown audience, her head up and shining, her arm up and the rifle held out. Sai started clapping the beat, and Sakura went through the motions and work that she knew. She did it a few times full through, with Sai critiquing her and giving her suggestions. Eventually, they did it set by set, braking down each motion at a slower tempo. Sai was usually pretty quiet during practices, not saying much other than what he needed to in order to make them a better band. But here, he wasn't shy to give out praise or suggestions. Even his criticism was kind. Not for the first time that day, she wondered what was going on inside of his head. Then Sakura reminded herself that she wasn't supposed to care.

During a break, while Sakura sipped her water, Sai had ventured into the staff cabin to get her a popsicle. She couldn't help but think that he was being nice to her. Almost too nice. It was the kind of niceness that she herself adopted when she was unsure about a situation. It dawned on her that Sai was probably new to the whole teaching others thing. He was an excellent guard member, but he had experience in that. Sakura got the feeling that he wasn't used to being the one that others looked for advice for.

Sai sat down next to her and handed her the popsicle. Sakura smiled and took it. It was blue. Not her favorite flavor, and it would stain her lips, but she took it and ate it anyway. While she was eating, she glanced over at Sai, who was eating an orange popsicle.

"Hey. What's between you and Sasuke?"

Sai turned his head to look at her. "What do you mean?"

Sakura was staring at the grass, but it wasn't out of embarrassment. She was more lost in her thoughts and she was speaking them out loud. "I mean, you and Sasuke are brothers. It's probably not my place to pry, but I'm an only child, and I've always wanted to have a sibling. I don't think that it's right for actual siblings to fight when you have a chance to fix things. I'm sure that you don't want things to stay the way they are with Sasuke?"

Sai hummed noncommittally but Sakura could tell that it was a yes.

"I think that Sasuke wants to fix things with you, but his pride doesn't allow him to. And I'm sure that you want to fix things with him as well, but you don't want to cross that bridge before him. Or maybe I'm just wrong about everything. But I know Sasuke, and I'd like to think that I know you, even just a little. Somebody has to take the step to fix things. And you can't just wait for the other person to make a move, ya know? So maybe you should."

Sai sighed. "You know, if I had wanted advice, I would have asked for it." His words were cold, but not his tone. He was warming up to Sakura; she could feel it. That was the only reason that she continued to speak. Otherwise she would have lost her courage.

"I hate to be the one who pushes, but you should probably go talk to him. I mean, you are the older brother. You know, more mature, the one who makes the bigger decisions? The one who handles things that the little brother can't. You don't want Sasuke to be mad at you forever? Now I don't know you guys' back story, but it can't be that bad, could it?"

Sai exhaled deeply before taking another bit of his popsicle. "Yes. It could be. I abandoned him."

"Abandoned?" Sakura didn't understand, and had a sad feeling that she wasn't going to get any answers.

Sai nodded once, but didn't say anything more.

Yep, definitely not getting answers. And why would she? She had known the guy for a total of twenty-four hours.

"Well, no matter what's going on with you two, try to fix it. I hate to see Sasuke unhappy like that." She took another bite of the popsicle.

"What? Do you have a thing for my little bro?" Sai said nonchalantly, perhaps with a hint of teasing, but Sakura couldn't tell. Sai seemed to have all his emotions under a tightly-shut lid. Sakura wasn't going to get anything out of him.

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, back when I was younger. I got over that a while ago though. But I care about all of my friends."

"That's good. Sasuke would have brought you nothing but heartache anyway."

Sakura smiled. "Oh, come on. Sasuke's not that much of a ladykiller."

"He's not much of a ladykiller at all," Sai mumbled, but Sakura pretended that she couldn't hear.

"Just talk to him for me, 'kay?" Sakura smiled and tilted her head, the way that she did for school pictures.

A hand touched her cheek. Her eyes shot open, only to find Sai's hand on her face for a moment before he retracted it from her, looking slightly surprised, like he couldn't believe that he had done it. Then he gave Sakura a smile, and this one was different from the fake one that he gave everyone else. It was real, it was genuine, and it made Sakura's heart do can-cans.

"Sure. I'll talk to him . . . For you." Sai got up and took her finished popsicle from her. "But now we should get back to work. I wouldn't want to see Kurenai's face if she found out that we had been goofing off."

Sakura nodded a bit numbly. Sai went to go throw away the wrappers and Sakura picked up her rifle and tried to remember all of her work in her fogged mind.

She had the hardest time concentrated during the rest of practice. She almost dropped her rifle on her foot twice during one rep. She didn't, but it was a close call. Sai told her that she needed to focus more and gave her that sweet smile again, which did not help her focus at all.

And the entire time she was trying to convince herself that she didn't need or want a relationship.

After all, they only brought problems.

* * *

**A/N: _Glossary: _**

**_One-and-a-half: _a guard toss that spins one and a half times in the air. By extension, a double is a guard toss that spins around two times in the air. They are pretty standard tosses. **

_**Straps: **_**rifles have straps. They are like the ones that you would see on the actual weapon, except guard rifles are shorter and generally made out of wood that is painted white-or a different color- and wrapped in tape. The straps can be used for various guard moves. The ones that Konoha Marching Band have have black straps.**

**Okay, so then, that should be about it. This chapter is short, but there's some SakuSai for all of you. I actually don't like SakuSai anywhere outside of well-written fanfictions and my own stories. . . because they are definitely not canon. No way. I don't really like GaaHina outside of fanficion either, although I love both Gaara and Hinata. **

**Next Chapter should be in the point of view of . . . well, actually I haven't decided yet. But it will probably be either Shikamaru, Gaara, or Sasuke. One of those three for sure. **

**See you next week! Review!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Guess what? IT'S THURSDAY! And that means your favorite story about Naruto characters in Band Camp! (Actually, it's the only Naruto fanfic about band camp. Believe me, I've looked.) Anyway, this lovely fanfiction continues in chapter thirteen, which is Gaara's point of view. It's actually pretty humorous, once you get past the depressing beginning. Also, I should mention that, in this fic, I made Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari triplets. As such, they are all the same age and are all seniors. Gaara's still their youngest sibling, but now it's more like ten minutes than years (I'm not actually sure of the age difference between the three siblings, as it is never specified). There shouldn't be a glossary at the end of this chapter since it contains little to no band action. **

**My new fanfiction, Legend of Zelda: Shadow Reign, came out this past Tuesday. I got a good reception from my friends, and I think that you guys will like it! Thanks for supporting me! : ) **

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Thirteen

Devilish Outlook

_When I was little, my mom contracted cancer. I liked my mother. She was sweet and kind and caring and told me the things that I needed to hear. To look back on it, my mother coddled me. But I was the youngest of three children and I needed to be coddled. _

_My father never coddled me. He would look at me and wonder why I wasn't a man yet, why I wasn't strong and powerful the way that Kankuro was. I was slight and smaller for my age. I wasn't weak, but I wasn't big and burly and obviously strong. It didn't help that Temari was more like a man than I was when we were kids. She liked raising her voice and getting down in the mud and wrestling and playing football with the guys. She liked beating the other boys in the dojo and making Kankuro look like a fool. But I was always the stronger when it came to martial arts. I think that that was the only reason that my father even looked my way. Because I was powerful in mixed martial arts, I was worth being his son. But when I sat on my mother's lap and talked about the constellations and what the stars were made out of, I wasn't. I was ignored. I didn't like my father. _

_When my mom contracted cancer, we were told that it was lucky that they had caught it so early, that it was able to be fixed. It broke the bank, but we did everything. That day, outside the hospital, I found a dollar bill. I thought that it was a good omen. My mother had been saved the same day that I found that dollar. I did everything in my power to keep that dollar safe. It needed to be safe. _

_Three weeks later, when my mother was away getting treatments, my father was drunk. While intoxicated, he took my backpack and threw it out with the rest of the garbage. I found out later. I had to go to all my teachers and get new textbooks and papers. I told them that I had lost it. I had to work four more routes as a paper boy in addition to the normal ones that I took. I had to mow lawns like no other. Eventually, things went back to normal._

_But my dollar had been in that backpack. _

_A week later, my mother died. _

_-From the journal of Gaara Sabaku_

* * *

Nothing works out right when it's supposed to.

Gaara learned that lesson fast and young. He learned it when his mother had died. He had learned it when his father became abusive. He learned it when his reputation hung over his head like a cloud. He learned it when whispers of "Demon" followed him through the halls.

But Gaara knew that he deserved it.

There was the simple fact that he didn't do anything to change it. People said that you shouldn't judge someone based on their appearance but they weren't ready to go and help a homeless man or get close to someone who was labeled dangerous. It was a thought of self-preservation. People thought that Gaara was dangerous. Maybe it was his fiery red hair or the tattoo that he kept carefully bandaged when he was out in public. Maybe it was the lack of emotion on his face. Maybe it was his silent demeanor. Whatever it was that set him apart from others made it easier for others to keep their distance, speculate about why he was so different.

They were allowed to speculate. They were allowed to make up rumors and add their own dose of fantasy into his life. They were allowed to think that he was dangerous.

After all, Gaara was dangerous.

They were not allowed to know the truth.

Gaara sat down on the typical picnic table as the sun set behind the trees. He had just finished putting away his tenor drum with the rest of the battery. Ginny had walked with him while Sasuke had to fix Kelly's drum since he was section leader. She was sitting on the bench below him like normal, the way that things always were. Evening practice had been a bruiser. All of band camp was a bruiser, but Gaara felt like they had gotten yelled at more than usual. Some of the weaker band members were complaining about being unappreciated. Tomorrow, the staff would probably make up for it by talking about how they knew that they were pushing the kids hard and that they were only trying to make the band better. Then life would go like normal.

It was odd without Sasuke added to the group. Gaara and Sasuke were close. The first time they had met had been the most accepting day of Gaara's life.

Gaara was a rookie, but Kakashi had announced that first pre-camp day that Gaara would be center tenor. Being center tenor was a big deal. It meant that they were in charge of the rest of the tenors. It wasn't nearly as impressive as being center snare, which meant that you were in charge of the rest of the battery, but it was still important. Sasuke was center snare anyway, and after four years of being in battery and being respected, no one wanted to take that away from him. But putting a rookie on center tenor? Unheard of.

But then Gaara played. Kakashi never had any comments for him. He was good at what he did, and what he did was percussion. For a while, Gaara had hung out with Temari and learned how to play vibes and marimbas. But Gaara had decided that it wasn't his cup of tea and moved on the battery, which was featured extensively through extensive drum breaks.

Sasuke had looked at Gaara, sized him up, and then gave a cocky half grin. Then he only said, "If's he's good, he's got my vote."

After that, it was pretty much decided that Gaara was center tenor.

They became friends quickly after. Not even Naruto had warmed up to him as quickly as Sasuke did. It was as if Sasuke had never even heard of Gaara's reputation. And if he had heard of it, he didn't care. At that moment, Gaara understood why everyone respected Sasuke. It wasn't just because he was handsome. It was because Sasuke was a legitimately good person.

They were the best of friends now. Gaara wasn't exactly sure how Naruto fell in the whole situation, but he and Sasuke weren't best friends. They were either more or less, but they weren't best friends. While Gaara was friends with both Sasuke and Naruto, he wasn't sure what was going on with them. But, then again, that was for them to figure it out.

Then, that same day, when Ginny had asked to eat lunch with them with a mix of awkwardness and cheerful personality, their duo had been expanded to three. Suddenly, they were spending all their time together, eating lunch and walking back and forth from their band practices. The three of them were close, to the point that Gaara had held back Ginny's hair when she had puked up her breakfast the second day of pre-camp while Sasuke went to go get Kakashi. Gaara was pretty sure that that was the day when he had lost his tough guy persona in front of Ginny, if it hadn't been lost before.

Both of them had their drumsticks, which seemed to be a staple for battery kids while you were in band. If they weren't beating on a surface, something was seriously wrong. Last year, Sasuke had bought a set of pure black drumsticks at some drumline competition that he had gone to. For the first few days of pre-camp, when he had gotten to use them, he was the envy of the entire battery. Pure black, high quality drumsticks—now that was manly.

Ginny, with her odd quirks, had stuck her white-taped drumsticks in her hair.

Gaara only rolled his eyes while he smiled internally.

Gaara's phone went off in his pocket. He had a nice smart phone, one that Temari had gotten him for their birthday last year. Gaara touched the screen to answer the call before putting it up to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Seven days . . ." _a voice rasped, breathy and uneven.

Gaara placed a hand to his temple. "Kankuro, I have caller I.D. on my phone."

"_Oh, darn it, Gaara! Why don't you let me have my fun?" _

"Because your fun is stupid," he said with a straight face while Ginny smiled, hearing the entire conversation from where she was sitting.

"_Ouch, that's cold, dog. Why you ain't showing love to yo brother?" _

"And you're not black."

"_How do you know?!" _

Gaara sighed once more. "Because we're related, dimwit. If you were black, I would be black. Since I'm as pale as notebook paper, you're not black."

"_Well, screw you. I can be black if I want to be." _

"You can choose many things in your life, Kankuro. Race is not one of them."

"_You are simply oppressing my people with your crass words. We are the future of America! The African Americans must unite!" _

"Um, Mexicans are the future of America. And you still aren't black."

"_Gaara, you suck the fun out of life!" _

"And you're sucking the logic out of this conversation. Now, why did you really call me? If it was to prank call me, I swear I will mess you up." Now some kid is going to overhear the conversation and tell everyone that Gaara was threatening some innocent child over the phone. It was going to happen. Just wait. That was just how Gaara's reputation was.

"_I wanted to talk to Gin. She's not answering her phone." _

Gaara glanced over at his female companion. She shrugged modestly and mouthed "It's dead." Gaara rolled his eyes and turned back to the conversation.

"Since I apparently suck the fun out of life, I'm not sure if I want to give Gin the phone."

"_Oh, come on!" _

"Make me."

"_Gaara! You little jerk! Don't test me!" _

"If I did, you would fail," Gaara said snidely. In front of him, Ginny laughed, saying "Burn!" loudly.

"_Ginny! You did not just compliment my brother for insulting me!" _

"Yes, she did," Gaara said.

"Yep, I did," Ginny responded in turn.

"_You guys are terrible. Gaara, just give the phone to Gin!" _

Gaara rolled his eyes again and gave a half-smiled while he handed his phone to Ginny. Ginny took the phone gingerly and laughed while she listened to Kankuro fume, Gaara hearing only mumbles and a few words here and there.

"Calm down, babe," Ginny said. "It's no big deal. Now what did you walk to talk to me about? . . . Oh, your jersey? Yeah, it's still at my house. . . If you really need it that bad, just go and ask my mom, she'll be sure to give it to you. . . No, she doesn't hate you. Why would you think that? . . . Oh, yeah. . . But that was accident, I'm sure she's not mad still . . . Okay. She might still be a little bit mad. . . Why don't you just wait until Saturday? I'll be back home for a day then . . . Sure. . . Of course we're still hanging out. I promised, didn't I? I'm going to be really tired, but I'm sure that we can handle it. . . Oh, yeah, I understand. I'll see you soon. . . Love you too. Bye."

Ginny pressed the end button on Gaara's phone and handed it back to him. Gaara slipped the phone back into his pocket as he looked to Ginny again.

"You two still going strong?"

Ginny smiled. "Near on eight months. You know that, Gaara."

Ginny had been dating Kankuro for a while. Gaara wasn't sure exactly how it happened, but suddenly, there was a fourth wheel when the three Sabaku siblings started going out of the house. At first, Kankuro had introduced her as a friend, but it was obvious that they were more than that. The clear-headed, quirky, chattering girl fit into the family like she was born there. Suddenly, Temari and Ginny would go shopping together on days when Kankuro was busy with football practice. Gaara and Ginny hung out during band obviously. For a while, Kankuro complained about having to share his girlfriend with the rest of the family, but he was always smiling.

Those were good days.

But Ginny didn't know. Ginny didn't know about their father, or the fact that their mother wasn't around anymore, or the family life that Kankuro had worked hard to keep her away from. Eventually, he would have to tell her, but bringing Ginny into their painful home life was not a good experience for a happy couple. Ginny didn't know about their financial problems or that Temari and Gaara were in band because of the kindness of Konoha High School.

But Ginny wasn't stupid. She probably understood more than Gaara would ever know. And when Kankuro came out and told her the entire story, Ginny wouldn't feel betrayed. Ginny would accept the story at face value and understand, and then comfort Kankuro when he broke down, because that was the kind of softie that he was. Ginny was the kind of person who would understand when things went wrong. She was the kind of person who would pick up the pieces of the broken story Kankuro would tell her and pull everything back together.

Gaara had a feeling that Hinata was like as well.

Hinata . . . she lingered in him. It wasn't right for him to be so concerned with her, but he was. When Gaara had seen her suffering from an asthma attack, Gaara had seen someone who was just as broken as he was. Someone who was lonely and hurting. Someone who probably had problems like his, who would be able to understand what he had been through. For a moment, he had worried that his reputation would keep her away, but it didn't. She had accepted him for what he was, not what he had done.

And Gaara had done a lot.

Even before he had seen her during the asthma attack—the first day of band camp, that Sunday. She had been carrying a mattress through the camp and trying not to attract attention. She had dropped her eyes to the ground and seemed to be praying that no one would look at her. Gaara had seen that look before. He had had that look when he had been a child. Then she had glanced up at him and Gaara had only thought that her white-lavender eyes were beautiful, captivating and far too haunted for someone like her. Then he had seen the bracelets and understood her more than he ever thought he would be able to.

It didn't hurt that she was humbly beautiful. She didn't flaunt it and she didn't need to. She was gorgeous just the way that she was.

"Hey, guys."

Approaching them was Sasuke, who seemed to have finished packing up Kelly's drum. He sat down next to Gaara.

"So, Gaara, I heard that you threatened an innocent child over the phone. What's that about?" Sasuke smirked, leaning back on his palms.

Gaara sighed while Ginny giggled. "It's nothing. My reputation is getting away from me again."

"I know the feeling, man. It seems like everywhere I go, people are talking about me. And it's not completely positive." Sasuke sounded like he didn't care, but somewhere deep within in his voice there was a sad undertone.

Gaara shot him a look with pale green eyes. "You aren't doing much to help yourself. You could try to be less obvious about how confused you are around him, you know."

Sasuke visibly deflated.

Gaara understood that Sasuke was going through a lot. Everyone went through a lot during their high school years, some more than others. Sasuke and Gaara and Hinata just got the short end of the stick. But did he have to be so obvious that he was torn up about Naruto? It was like announcing to the world that he was gay or at least bisexual. If he wanted to stay anonymous, he wasn't doing a very good job. Now the entire camp was discussing whether or not Naruto and Sasuke had the hots for each other. And no matter what conclusion they came to, it wasn't good for Sasuke's bad-boy reputation.

Seriously. Gaara had always had his suspicions, but this was getting ridiculous. Hanging out around Naruto for most of high school and Ginny, who had an especially accurate gaydar-the first day of her freshman year, she walked up to Naruto, tilted her head and said that he was gay. He came out a couple weeks later—had caused Gaara to have a pretty good gaydar himself. And Sasuke was setting it off like no other. While Gaara didn't particularly care about his reputation, he knew that Sasuke did. Although he may not show it, Gaara knew that Sasuke wanted to be accepted. He was risking that by being so obviously confused.

Gaara wanted to slap the guy and tell him to get a move on. But he was Gaara, so he looked at his friend calmly with little emotion on his face.

Gaara raised his hands up in a gesture of innocence. "Hey, don't get upset. I'm just stating the obvious."

Sasuke sat down next to them and placed his fingers on his temples.

Ginny put a hand on his shin and tried to comfort him, which was awkward since she was sitting on the bench below him and Gaara.

"Ugh!" Sasuke exclaimed suddenly. "I know that I shouldn't be around him and that this shouldn't work and that I had made my decision years ago, but why is it so hard now? Why is so suddenly, damnably hard to leave him behind now?"

Gaara shrugged. "Maybe things are different between you two now than they were before."

"You got that right," Sasuke murmured moodily. For the most parts, Sasuke didn't have moods. He just did moody all the time, flipping back and forth like a ping-pong ball.

A very excitable ping-pong ball.

Ginny smiled softly. "Sasuke, it can't be that bad. If you still want to be around Naruto, there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing stopping you." Sasuke looked like he wanted to protest, but he shut his own mouth on whatever comment he was about to make, as if he realized he didn't want to speak it aloud. Ginny continued. "And if you want to be more than simple friends with Naruto—like boyfriends, then that's fine as well."

"I'm not ga—"

Gaara raised an eyebrow. Sasuke blushed and didn't finish his sentence.

"Okay, I might be gay."

"That's better," Ginny said, crossing her arms and looking satisfied. "Well, now that we've got that issue out of the way, let's move onto whether or not you like Naruto."

Sasuke sighed and his cheeks kept the same light pink color. "Can we please not talk about this?"

Ginny looked up to Sasuke carefully. "Okay. I'm not going to push. But later, when everything works out one way or another, you had better give me details."

Sasuke groaned and looked to Gaara carefully. "Just because I told her I'm gay she's ready to have guy talks with me."

"Well, who else are you going to have them with?" Ginny said defensively. "Gaara? I'm sorry, but I can't see that happening any time this century. And you too would probably just stare at each other until you decided that it wasn't worth your time. I know how you two are, Sasuke."

"I hate to say it, but talking to Gaara about these things would probably be better than a love-crazy girl like you," Sasuke said, poking Ginny in the shoulder.

Ginny crossed her arms and turned around to look at Sasuke's face while she threatened him. The argument lasted long through their free time, until Ginny had to go back to her cabin and Sasuke and Gaara had to retire for the night. When they went back to their cabin, Sasuke was still fuming about two things: that he had actually told the two of them that he was gay and that Ginny still wanted to have guy talks with him. It was ironic because Ginny hadn't even told Sasuke that she had a relationship with Gaara's brother yet. Oh, well, she'd get around to it eventually.

When Gaara thought about it, he had great friends. He couldn't help but smile slightly at the thought as he sat down on his bed.

The smile vanished quickly.

If only his friends knew about everything that he'd been trying to hide.

* * *

**A/N: How much of those rumors are really rumors? Gaara's not completely out of the woods yet! It would be no fun if he was. Next chapter should be in Shikamaru's point of view as he deals with his first kill as a member of the Death Squad and the issues that he shouldn't have had to deal with. It's such a drag. ; ) **

**I've decided the ending of this fic, finally. And no one's out of the drama yet! After all, it's only Tuesday night! **

**Review, and thanks for your support! **

**~Shard of Freedom**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: First off, I'm so so sorry. I didn't update last week, and I didn't give you any warning that was I wasn't going to. But that Thursday, my computer crashed. It got fixed, of course, but by that point, it was better just to hold up the update until this week instead of updating twice in three days. I'm still really sorry and I hope you'll all forgive me. **

**ANNOUNCEMENT: This story will now be updated biweekly. That means that I'll update once every two weeks. Occasionally, I'll do it every week, but those times will be far and few between. It'll still be on Thursdays like usual, of course. I just wanted to let you know. So, to put it into perspective, the next update will be on Thursday, November 8****th****. I hope that you all can bear with me. **

**Okay, here's chapter fourteen. There's no glossary at the end. Just to keep you up to speed, it's Wednesday during band camp, and I think that this fic is going to go a lot faster from now on. I'm planning maybe forty or forty-five chapters tops. So, MusicGeek764, yes, it will be finished this year. : )**

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

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Chapter Fourteen

Sincerely

_Ugh. Diaries are a drag too. _

_But I still don't know what to do about my future, and this is one of my options. Writing it down to get it out, so that it doesn't suffocate me like it wants to. _

_I've never been good at telling people about my problems. I'd rather think them through to the many conclusions and have plans for each one in case they do occur. It's a safer road than trusting someone else to figure it out for you. _

_If there's one thing that I'm good at, it's thinking things through. I trust my own intellect to get me through the rough times. I've always been slightly proud of how smart I am, even if I do nothing to show it. I would rather sleep than take a test, so I usually do. It's just the way I am. _

_But now I've got to make a decision that I don't want to make. _

_Should I accept change? _

_Troublesome. _

_-From the diary of Shikamaru Nara_

* * *

Shikamaru nodded as he turned away from Asuma, giving a hand in farewell. Asuma nodded, and turned back to Kurenai, who he had been talking to before Shikamaru had interrupted. Kurenai took it in good spirits though, as she thought of Shikamaru as the son she had never had. It was true that, as Shikamaru grew older, he would spend more time at their house than in his own.

As Shikamaru walked around the commons area, giving nods to the band and staff members that waved him down, he caught the eye of the one girl who he had been searching for. When she noticed him watching, she nodded and shrugged her black hair over her shoulder, walking gracefully over to him. It was just after Wednesday afternoon block, so she had nothing but free time. Shikamaru didn't want to bother her if she was busy.

But the girl waved goodbye to her friends. As soon as Shikamaru saw the girl heading his way, he turned and moved to the back wall of the assembly hall, out of the eyes of the public. After all, they usually didn't talk to each other. It was incredible that they even noticed one another. Shikamaru leaned against the wall and lit up, raising the glowing cigarette to his lips as she approached him. She looked at the cigarette distastefully for a moment, but then she smiled and said nothing. She was never one to judge, after all.

She leaned up against the wall next to her and swung her long black hair over her shoulder, playing with the braids that dotted it. "So, you finally got a target?" Hinata asked curiously.

Shikamaru smirked. "Hey, now. What's the number one rule of the Death Squad?"

Hinata rolled her eyes playfully. "Don't talk about the Death Squad, even with other members. Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not new at this, you know. It's my third year in it, Shika."

"Okay. Anyway, I'd like you to handle the first one. I mean, I would send Flan, but she's a freshman and she's pretty timid."

"And you always look after your rookies," Hinata added. She smiled sweetly and Shikamaru was reminded why guys considered her the girl that everyone wanted but no one pursued. Because she was just too nice. No one wanted to break her heart. She was just so sweet—and she wouldn't even blame you for hurting her.

Shikamaru blew out smoke, away from Hinata, respecting her opinion on smoking. "Yep. Love my rookies. Anyway, her name's Julie. She's a rookie trumpet, apparently. Can't say that I've met her. Do you know her?"

Hinata nodded. "Yeah. She's really thin and average height. Fire red hair. Always hangs out with that other girl, Chica. Do you need me to kill her?"

"Remember, no witnesses."

The pale-eyed girl nodded. Shikamaru didn't know why he was reminding her. She had done it long enough to know how being in the Death Squad worked. Maybe it was just because his nerves were fried or that he was worried about too many things at once. For a guy who loved being lazy, his brain was working way too hard.

Hinata placed a hand on his toned shoulder. "Are you sure that you're okay? I mean, I don't know you very well, but you seemed stressed, and even I know that that's out of character for you. Is there anything that I can do?"

Normally, Shikamaru would have just brushed someone off if they had asked him that, but this was Hinata, who was probably the nicest girl in the band. She really meant what she said and she honestly wanted to help. That was just the kind of person she was.

"I'll be fine, Hinata," he said carefully. "I've just got to think through some things."

She smiled, with a little sadness in her eyes, and Shikamaru could help but wonder what had put it there. "That seems to be the general answer these days. I mean, I don't think that there's a single person who's not going through drama right now?"

"You too?"

"Why not me?" Hinata shrugged. "And on your end?"

Shikamaru laughed, breathing out smoke. "Are you kidding? When has there been a season without pit drama? Jason still wants to be section leader over me and I still won't let him. I'm center marimba for Christ's sake. I'm allowed to have my time."

"It's your senior year, after all," Hinata said softly. Something caught Hinata's eye over Shikamaru's shoulder. "I've got to go, Shikamaru. I'll see you later, okay?"

Shikamaru nodded before tapping the ashes off of the end of his cigarette. "Okay."

Hinata darted away, her black hair swinging behind her. When Shikamaru turned, he saw that Hinata was heading towards Gaara, who looked around before threading his fingers into hers. Were they dating? That would be a shock. Shikamaru had already heard that it had caused a bit of a commotion when they started running together during the mornings. It wouldn't be surprising if they were together. Hinata was a nice girl and Gaara was a good—if misunderstood—guy. They would get along well.

Personally, Shikamaru couldn't be bothered enough to care. He had his own issues, most of them involving a certain envelope on his bed and a blond who didn't know how to give up in chess.

Shikamaru stretched his arms above his head. When he was younger, his father barely made him do a thing, despite the fact that he probably should have. His mother, on the other hand, was always the one who made him do chores, and then do pushups if they weren't done on time. His father was a military dad, and didn't mind joining his son when he would be punished. It was bonding. It was the first and last that they would ever have. For some reason, doing all that conditioning became a way to remember his dad while he was gone. Now, according to Naruto, he had a body to die for. Shikamaru usually didn't think about such things, but he supposed that it would be true.

Shikamaru sighed as he walked through the camp. He never quite knew what to do during free time. Most of the time, he would cloud watch and then be late for whatever practice came next. He knew exactly what time they started and what time they ended. Shikamaru could be on time if he wanted to. He just didn't want to.

Temari gave him hell about it.

Shikamaru wasn't sure why she cared. Other than their chess matches during meals and the occasional chat, they didn't really hang out with each other. She usually hanged out with Hinata and her brother, which was suddenly making more sense. Sakura was there as well, although she generally shot glares at Hinata and Gaata, along with Stella and Jamie, two flutes who liked to hang out with Hinata. They didn't seem to mind Hinata and Gaara. For a moment, Shikamaru wondered if Hinata had told Sakura that she and Gaara were dating. He highly doubted it.

Temari was the type of girl who didn't slack off. She was always participating, always making sure that she got it right. She had bad growth plates in her ankles, along with some injury that was too long for Shikamaru to remember it, but he knew that it was pretty bad. Occasionally, she would just fall over in the middle of lockjaw or some other practice exercise. Then, Shikamaru would carry her to nurse to get some ice, leaving Jason in charge. It really didn't help the whole fight between the two of them, but there was nothing to be done about it. Temari needed someone to help her.

Shikamaru wasn't exactly sure why he cared so much.

Temari was exactly the same kind of woman as his mom. Powerful, demanding, no-nonsense women who would get things done. That was what she was. It was what his mom was. And his mother was the reason that he preferred to spend more time at Asuma's house than his own. So, when it came down to it, Shikamaru wasn't really sure why he liked Temari at all. By his standpoint, he should hate her.

But it just didn't work like that. He couldn't get Temari out of his head. He would help her when she was hurt and she would punch him in the shoulder by way of thanks. It was an odd relationship, and Shikamaru reveled in it. And he didn't really understand why.

She was beautiful, to be sure. She was gorgeous and careful and smiled easily, even though she smirked more often. She was intelligent, despite the fact that he always beat her in their chess matches. But it was a long battle, one filled with clever moves and devious ploys. Was that why he admired her? For her intelligence? Is that why she was like a plague to his brain?

Shikamaru walked around camp, trying to find a place to just cloud-watch and waste the few hours before dinner-time. As he walked around, he saw that Temari was talking loudly into a cell-phone, pacing back and forth. Her blond hair was up in a bun, her purple jacket wrapped around her slender waist.

As Shikamaru approached, he could hear her conversation. Her voice was full of emotion, and that emotion seemed to change from anger to sadness to pleading, which was one thing that Shikamaru never thought that he would hear.

"Listen, Baki, we can't just go back . . . I don't care what he has to say! He doesn't control our lives anymore! Gaara made sure of that . . . Oh, don't get started with me, Baki. Gaara did what he thought was right, and it was. He was only trying to protect all of us. . . I don't care what you think. He's not anything other than good. He was just protecting me. . . I don't care what 'my father' thinks. My father can shove it right up his—"

"_Language!" _ That one word was loud enough that Shikamaru could hear it from where he was standing, waiting for a moment to talk to Temari without seeming awkward. He was slightly aware that he was eavesdropping, but it didn't seem important when faced with the conversation. Temari was already going to hate him for listening, he might as well figure out what he could from the conversation.

"Oh, fine. But that doesn't matter. What matters is that he's not allowed to interfere with our lives anymore. I don't see him taking Kankuro out of football . . . No, it's not any different! My father doesn't have a thing to do with me anymore, and I don't care that he's out of jail. He has no say in our lives. I don't care what he thinks, Baki, and you shouldn't either. You're our guardian now. Can't you do something about it?"

There was a pause.

"What do you mean, you can't?!" Temari shrieked. "He shouldn't be in any part of our lives, I don't care that he's on parole. That judge promised us that he wouldn't be near us ever again. Generally, that means that he can't take us out of band either. . . I don't care that my father is pressing you! Please don't make us leave! Not only is this good for Gaara, but it's good for me too! I don't want to leave this all behind because my father's being an asshole like he always is . . ." Temari sighed. "Yes, I know that my father is an influential man. . . But that doesn't matter, does it? Can't you fix this?"

Shikamaru was shocked when he noticed that Temari was close to tears. The wetness clung to her eyelids and made her seem younger than she was. Temari placed a hand to her mouth and wiped the tears of frustration away.

"Please, Baki, don't make us leave! You've protected us for years! I know that you and Gaara have never gotten along, but he really is a good kid . . . Please don't believe everything that you hear. He hasn't done anything wrong! He was just trying to protect me, Baki, you know that . . . I was weak back then and I needed my little brother to take care of me. I'm going to protect him this time, maybe just in this small way . . . No, no! Don't do this! At least let us finish the season! I'll talk to my dad, I'll do anything! Just let us finish what we started!"

The person on the other end of the line seemed to say something. Temari gave an angry yell of frustration. She clutched the phone in her hands and threw it onto the ground. Her free hands wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"Stupid tears, stupid Baki, stupid everything . . ."

Seeing what she had done, Temari kneeled down slowly and picked up the phone gently, but still the darkened shadow remained on her face. Shikamaru moved out into the open. When he cracked a twig—foolish him—Temari turned to face him and her eyes widened. For a moment, he thought that she would yell at him like she always did, but instead she just turned away and wiped her eyes again.

"How much did you hear?" Her voice was choked with emotion.

"How much did you say?" he answered in response. He walked towards her and Temari spun around again, her green eyes wild and confused.

"Go away! JUST GO AWAY!"

Shikamaru didn't move. Instead he placed a hand on her arm and turned her to face him. Her shoulders were shaking with sobs. Before he could even say anything, Temari had wrapped her strong arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest, trembling with repressed sobs.

Shocked at first, he placed his hand on the small of her back, saying softly, "You can let it out. There's no one here but me."

Shikamaru wasn't sure how long he stood there, just holding her and telling her that things would be okay. Temari stopped crying quickly, but didn't look up and wasn't willing to meet his eyes. Shikamaru had a feeling that she was ashamed of her tears. She was the girl who didn't cry. She didn't let her emotions show on her face. So she simply stayed there, and her grip didn't loosen and her eyes didn't meet his. And strangely he didn't mind at all.

And when she finally did have the courage to look up, perhaps when she realized that she couldn't remain glued to him forever, her eyes were still moist with tears and unguarded by her many walls. Her hair was messy, and she must have been wearing mascara because there were soft black lines on her cheeks. Shikamaru was lucky that his shirt was black, not that he had ever minded stains. She was a mess.

And Shikamaru thought that she had never been more beautiful.

When she looked up at him, she was uncertain. He wasn't sure compelled him to do it. One moment things were simple, and the next, he had leaned in and pressed her lips to his, holding her chin in his hand. For a moment, he thought that he had done the wrong thing. But then Temari threw her arms around his head and threaded a hand into his black hair and deepened the kiss.

She was vulnerable and wasn't thinking straight and probably would hate him for it when she thought about it later. But that didn't stop Shikamaru for living in the moment and loving the kiss for what it was.

Eventually, Temari pulled back. Shikamaru was ready to see something akin to disgust in her eyes—after all, he had never really kissed a girl before—but she smiled softly. Temari rubbed her lips together and tightened her hands around his neck.

"You taste like cigarettes," she said softly.

And whatever he had been expecting her to say, it definitely wasn't that.

Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow. "Is that a bad thing?"

"It's comforting," she murmured. "I like it."

And with that, she leaned in to kiss him again.

* * *

**A/N: So how'd you like it? Review and tell me what you think. I'd appreciate that. **

**Anyway, next chapter should be in the point of view of Sakura. To excuse my language, shit is about to go down in the guard world. Prepare yourself. **

**Also, there are going to be larger time skips between each chapter. The climax is approaching, my friends. **

**Review! I'll see you all in two weeks!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter's like a lot shorter than the rest of them, but I've been pretty busy. So, please enjoy chapter fifteen and I'm sorry about the length. At least I still updated on time, right? Anyway, here you go. Here's the lovely chapter fifteen. Anyway, I've had a lot of homework. Actually, a ridiculous amount of homework. Anyway, there will not be a glossary at the end. It's pretty straightfoward. **

**Disclaimer: Do not own. Yeah. Otherwise I wouldn't be on fanfiction. I would actually getting paid for this. **

**Continue on, my friends!**

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Fifteen 

What's Worth It 

_God, things just got complicated, didn't it? _

_I didn't mean to pry. _

_I didn't mean to ask. _

_I didn't mean to make things difficult, I didn't mean to look at him longer than I was supposed to, I didn't mean to make my heart skip a few beats whenever I saw him. I didn't mean to look at him closer than I was going to, I didn't mean to notice that he returned my glances. I didn't mean to stare. I didn't mean to wonder. I didn't mean to think of time or ask him for help on my anatomy homework. I didn't mean to waste my free time sitting next to him watching him paint. I didn't mean to notice that whenever I looked away, he looked back. I didn't mean to tell him my stories of the hospital, I didn't mean to listen when he talked about his college. I didn't mean to brush his hand that second day. _

_I didn't mean to do any of it, because I knew where it led. _

_I didn't mean to, but I did all of it anyway. Because I knew where it led. _

_That's why things are complicated. _

_-From the journal of Sakura Haruno_

* * *

Sakura sat down on the grass during another one of their popsicle breaks. It was Thursday, afternoon block. The whatever-it-was that they had had for lunch was turning around in Sakura's stomach, but she knew that she wouldn't get sick. She hadn't gotten sick in years, and she wasn't about to break for some mystery meat in the cafeteria. That was weak.

Ino came up to her and gave her a pink popsicle. Once again, it wasn't her favorite. Ino knew that her favorite flavor was blue; was she avoiding it just to spite her? But Sakura took the popsicle without a word of complaint, not wanting to sound like a child.

It had become a sort of ritual for the two of them to sit together during popsicle breaks and talk about whatever came to mind. They still weren't friends, in the usual sort of the word. Ino was still pretty miffed that Sakura had gotten to become the section leader over her, when she had more experience. Sakura was still a little upset that Ino never allowed her to truly be the one in charge. Back when they were little, Ino had always been the stronger of the two, the one who could handle herself and whatever came her way. Sakura had trailed behind and become a sort of lapdog to Ino, following her around constantly. So, no, they weren't friends.

But their conversations were full of mutual respect and guard work, talking about the rookies and what they needed to work on, talking about what Ino was going to do for senior prank (because Sakura knew that she was going to be a part of it, she just knew it). When Sai was brought up, Sakura nearly choked on her popsicle.

It was a good thing that Ino and Sakura always sat away from the rest of the crowd, because if anyone else had heard that, Sakura might have decked Ino right then and there.

But, wait, how did Ino know?

Sakura coughed and coughed, regaining her usual poise somewhat unsteadily. "What does Sai have to do with anything?"

Ino raised an eyebrow. "That's certainly an odd reaction. What, have a thing for him?"

Sakura shot Ino a glare. "What are you talking about?"

Ino smirked. "You've heard of my matchmaking skill, right? You want to give them a try?"

Sakura groaned. She didn't not want to have anything to do with Ino's matchmaking skills. Not a single thing. Horror stories were told of Ino's matchmaking skills. Of course, she did get the couple together, but the casualty rate for the last one was three chairs, a table, a French horn player, a couple arrows (who knows where she got that), one tuba and a ping-pong table. Everyone stayed away from Ino's matchmaking skills unless they were truly desperate—and no one was that desperate.

"No thanks, Ino. I'd prefer for our tubas to go untouched this year."

Ino pouted. "Hey, that was only once!"

"Twice and you know it." Sakura took another bite of her popsicle and looked over to the field, where Sai was talking to Neji. His coal black eyes glanced over to her for a moment and then jolted back to Neji's. Sakura smiled slightly to go with the tiniest of blushes. Hopefully, Ino wouldn't notice.

"Once."

"Twice."

"Once."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at her companion. "Really, Ino? We both know that it's true."

Ino crossed her arms. "Well, if you want to be like that, then we both know that you have the hots for Sai. And everyone knows that he's available, even though Sasuke's hell bent to get him out of there."

Ignoring the first part of Ino's comment, Sakura latched on to the second. "Hey, you're the gossip queen. Does anyone know about Sai and Sasuke's past?"

"About as much as people know about Naruto's and Sasuke's past. That is little to nothing about it. I still would pay money to say that Naruto and Sasuke had the hots for each other. I mean, just look at how they look at each other, and the way that they avoid each other. I mean, everyone knows that Naruto's gay, but it's entirely possible that Sasuke could be as well. And that would mean that their friendship was different than normal relationships if they were both gay, and that would mean—"

"INO." Sakura cut across Ino's motor mouth with the skill of someone with a lot of practice. "Stop talking about things that you have no idea about."

Ino pouted. "Sometimes, I miss the old days."

Sakura gave her glare. "You mean the days that I followed you around like a puppy. No thanks, Ino. I'm my own person, I'll have you know."

"No, I meant the days when you were quieter and less opinionated about everything. You were a lot less strong-willed, I'll admit, but these days you have a decided opinion about everything. Just relax and let things go where they go. I mean, not everything has to be planned out on a map. You don't have to act so cold to everything. Not everything is going to break your heart if you look at it long enough. I mean, you never really get attached to anything. And I see the way that you look at Hinata and Gaara."

Sakura gritted her teeth. Ino had no right to intrude on that particular subject. Hinata had told her that she and Gaara were dating yesterday. As if she couldn't tell from the beginning. Hinata went around with this smiling look on her face, like someone had decided to give her a lifetime's supply of sugar. She would glance at Gaara and spend her freetime with him and run with him in the mornings. Sakura wasn't the most accepting person, as Ino had said, she knew that much about herself, but that didn't mean that she was blind. She hadn't said a word to Hinata about her relationship. But if Hinata got her heart broken, she was going to be there to be the shoulder to cry on, even if her shoulders were probably going to be covered in her own tears. She really did need to take her own advice.

"Listen, Ino," Sakura said coldly. "If there's one thing that I'm not talking to you about, it would be that. Please don't pretend that we were the friends that we were back then. We're not the same people."

Ino crushed the wrapper of the popsicle in her hand and blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Don't you think that I know that? I mean, I may be shallow, but I'm not oblivious. We're the same. I can tell when something bothers you, and it's the same for you. You know me better than forever. Next year, I'm leaving here for Alabama and college. I'm probably not going to come back anytime soon. Maybe I want to fix things with you before I leave. This is my last year, and I'm spiteful that you took section leader away from me, but I'm not going to be a child. Maybe we could be friends again. If you didn't think so, why are you sitting with me and talking?"

Sakura paused. Did she want to fix things with Ino? She certainly didn't like the way that they stood. She didn't want the hate that they had between them, it just got in the way. She didn't want Ino to leave and then think that she should have done something more. Sakura hated regrets. But did she really want to fix things that badly? It would take a lot of work, Sakura knew. She could bridge all those years of hate that easily.

"I don't know, Ino," Sakura said uneasily, but when Ino looked as if she was going to speak again, Sakura put up a hand to stop her. "But I'm willing to give it a try."

Ino looked ready to give out a full-on girl squeal when Kurenai whistled and told the rest of them to get out there. Their break was over.

Sakura handed her trash to the guard girl who was going around collecting it, while Ino turned to Sakura and smiled.

"It's great that we can try." Ino gave a little devilish smile. "And I won't tell anyone that you like Sai."

Sakura blushed red and sputtered, realizing that Ino had gotten the best of her. As profanities fell from her lips, she swore that although that the two of them were trying to be friends again, that didn't mean that she wouldn't get Ino back for that later. Revenge was sweet, after all.

* * *

During free time, Sakura moved away from the rest of her friends. She wasn't really sure how to handle the entire Gaara-Hinata situation, and she didn't want to. She would handle that for dinner. At the moment, she headed to the back of the assembly hall, to that dark place where nearly no one ever ventured. She smiled when she saw that he was already there. She sat down next to him and opened her anatomy book across her lap, placing a black pen behind her ear and thumbing the pages.

He was holding a piece of charcoal between his fingers and drawing a good sketch of a robin, or perhaps some other bird. It was a good likeness, but Sakura didn't tell him that. He was an aspiring artist, and a very good one. He said that his professors had hopes for him, and it was quite possible that he already had a few patrons who would be looking forward to buying his word. Sakura wouldn't tell him what he already knew. Besides, he wouldn't want to be disturbed while he was working on a project, even it was something simple.

Sakura started making flash cards for her anatomy class. She was trying to test out of a lot of her subjects so that she could spend more time focusing on med school, which was going to eat up both her time and her money. She already had looked into some of the colleges. Now she could just hope for the best. The line that she was just a junior and that she still had time became thinner and thinner with each passing day. If she wanted to do what she could as soon as she could, she would have to throw expressions like that out the window.

Sakura knew that he glanced over to her now and then. She liked the attention and felt flattered. She glanced over at him as well, watching him work and not truly concentrating on the bone structure as she should have. She loved the way that his graceful fingers would hold the charcoal, the way that he would sometimes bite his lip in thought, the way that his bright eyes flashed over to her more often than not. The way that he looked serene even while erasing his work or smearing the coal.

They sat there in silence for a long time, but it wasn't awkward. Both of them knew the meaning of silence, and embraced that. It meant, that for the moment, there was some remnant of peace that could be measured against the chaos of their everyday lives. And Sakura knew that it wasn't going to get any easier. Not by a long shot.

But during that silence, Sai took Sakura's hand in his. She smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder. It was a nice feeling. Things were perfect for just a moment.

* * *

**A/N: No glossary. Yay! **

**Anyway, next chapter should be in the point of view of . . . someone. **

**Come in two weeks and find out!**

**See you soon!**

**~Shard of Freedom **


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I am so so sorry that I didn't update two weeks ago, but it was Thanksgiving and I was out of town for a while. To make it up to all of you, I will be updating next week as well, instead of waiting two weeks. I'm so sorry! **

**Also, right now, from a band camp standpoint, it's THURSDAY! Yeah! **

**No glossary. Disclaimer: don't own. **

**UPDATE: after this chapter, Musical Resonance will be on hiatus until April 4th, 2013. Sorry everyone. It'll be back up and most likely finished before September of this year. **

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter Sixteen 

Remnants 

_I'm not sure how things are going to work out anymore. I was always sure. I was always safe. I was always reminded that I could make it through. Now, I'm not sure if I can make it through anymore. _

_It's not his fault. It's not anyone's fault. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. _

_I made my decisions. I didn't work hard enough. I just can't please him. I can't do it. _

_I'm meaningless. I'm worthless. I will never be what he expects of me. And of course, that's exactly the truth. _

_Sometimes, I get to thinking that it would be better if I wasn't there at all. _

_I get to thinking that I wasn't born to be anything in this world._

_That I'll never amount to anything. _

_That I'll never become anything that's worthwhile. _

_And then I get to thinking . . . _

_I'm right. _

_But that's how this all started, wasn't it? _

_And that's how it will all end. _

_-From a burned diary entry of Hinata Hyuuga, two years ago._

* * *

There must have been something wrong with her.

Hinata couldn't remember any time that she had been this happy. Sure, she enjoyed Sakura and Sasuke and the rest of the gang, but Hinata just couldn't remember a time when she was this happy with her life. When she was so pleased with everything that was going on.

And she knew that it was because of Gaara.

Hinata knew that Sakura was mad at her decision. She knew that she and Gaara got odd looks whenever they went out. That people tended to avoid them when they ran together during the mornings. She understood all of that. But there was this glowing feeling inside of her.

She knew that part of it had to do with the fact that someone as . . . well . . . hot as Gaara was would pay attention to her. Somewhere in the deep portions of Hinata's mind, she knew that she wasn't good enough for him. But Hinata never corrected Gaara when he said that she was beautiful or gorgeous or way too pretty for him.

It was nice to have someone who seemed to like you for you.

It was even better that it was Gaara.

Gaara was sweet and kind and mysterious and talked to her when she was down. They spent their free time together and he sat next to her during meal times even though she knew that he didn't really like her friends. Especially Sakura, who had tactfully said nothing about the fact that Gaara was sitting next to them.

Hinata was starting to think that Sakura was hiding something from her. Sakura was usually so open and carefree, but now she disappeared just as often as Hinata did. Hinata supposed that she was getting her just deserts. After all, Hinata had been hiding things from Sakura for as long as they had known each other.

At the moment, it was the Thursday of the first week of band camp. It was their free time after the afternoon block and she was sitting at the bench in the woods next to Gaara, who was playing with end of her braid. Hinata noticed that whenever they were together, Gaara always seemed to be touching her. Not in a sexual manner, but in an intimate way. Like it was the only way that he could show affection. Hinata could understand that.

Hinata was still in the "honeymoon" phase, as Stella called it. She was still awed by the fact that Gaara wanted her. That he wanted to be with her, as imperfect as she was. Even on the band field, her mind was filled with little else. Gaara wanted to be with her. That was all that mattered.

They spent so much time together, but the topic of their pasts never came up. Hinata wanted to tell him about everything that had happened but she didn't have the nerve. She had never had the nerve. But she wanted to tell Gaara. Maybe it was because somehow, she knew that he would understand. He had already guessed half of the story, of course, but Hinata didn't feel like getting into the details.

That morning, she had checked her phone to find two more calls from her father and one from her mother. Hinata had deleted them instantly without a thought before clenching the phone so tight that she worried that she had broken it. It was only later that she thought that she should have at least listened to the one that her mother had sent her, but it was no use. As far as Hinata was concerned, her mother was just as cruel as her father. After all, her mother had done nothing. Nothing at all. Hanabi and Neji were the only ones in her family who cared.

Gaara swiped her bangs back away from her face. "What's wrong?"

Hinata gave a small smile. "Nothing. I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Hm." Gaara's eyes told her that he knew that it wasn't just nothing, but he didn't pry. Hinata liked that about Gaara. He wasn't insistent that she tell all of her secrets. He would let her talk about them in her own time. He knew that value of secrets.

Hinata rolled a strand of his red hair between her fingers. Gaara had an arm around her shoulders. Hinata never thought that she was a touchy person until she got into this relationship with Gaara. She never knew how much she craved physical contact. Even though it was small, it completed something inside of her to be so easily affectionate with someone else. The two of them hadn't done anything further than simply holding hands, but the simple affection was enough. And while Gaara didn't show much on his face, Hinata understood so much by watching his sea green eyes.

Most of the time when they were together, they were in companionable silence or Hinata talked about something while Gaara listened intently and added comments here and there. They had argued over politics a couple of times, as well as the meaning of religion. Whether meaningless or deep, all of their conversations seemed to bring them closer together.

The two of them did have an interesting conversation of what was going on between Sasuke and Naruto. Gaara told her that Sasuke had admitted to being gay, but didn't say anything other than that. Hinata had smiled sweeting and said that she had known about it the whole time. After all, no one lets their eyes linger on Naruto for that long without some sort of attraction. After all, she would know. That conversation bled into how her first crush was on Naruto, and it had ended quickly when he straight out told her that he was gay. That was the first time that she had heard Gaara laugh. It was soft and subtle, but it was laughter nonetheless, and it made her feel pounds lighter than she actually was. Gaara then said that he would talk to Naruto about it later, which caused her to blush and stutter furiously while she threatened him with bodily harm for even suggesting it.

During the night times, after the evening practice, they would leave each other to go hang out with their friends. Hinata understood that he, Sasuke and Ginny were like a little family and she missed the girl time that she had with Sakura, who seemed to become increasingly stressed out about something that she didn't truly understand.

They had been together for only a day and a half, but Hinata couldn't have been happier. She knew that it was silly and girly to be so attached to a guy that she had only met less than a week ago, as well as to date him after knowing him for only four, but it was different with Gaara. He seemed to understand everything that she had gone through, even though she hadn't even told him about it yet.

"Hinata?" Gaara asked quietly.

"Yes?"

"We get this Saturday off, correct?"

Hinata nodded. "Yes, we get to leave the camp Saturday night and get to have time to ourselves for a while. Why?"

"Do you want to go on a date with me?"

Hinata was shocked by the sudden announcement and blushed fiercely. "Wh-Why would you ask me that?"

"Well," Gaara said, "we are dating. And I know for a fact that Kankuro and Ginny are going out on a date that day. So I figured that we might as well. Besides, Ginny will never get off my back if we don't. She's convinced that she has to play matchmaker."

Hinata nodded vigorously. "Of course! I didn't have any other plans anyway."

Gaara gave her that small, slow smile of his. "Then it's a date."

* * *

Hinata walked through the assembly hall after evening practice that night, trying to find her inhaler while some of the kitchen staff handed out snacks to the kids who were walking it. Most of the band kids were back in their cabins already, icing sore feet or showering so they didn't have to do it in the morning. Hinata shuffled around the water bottles and dot boxes and half-damp towels until she came across her yellow bag. She reached for it triumphantly when a pale hand grabbed it for her.

Hinata looked up to see Neji holding out her bag for her.

Hinata smiled and grabbed it. "Thanks, Neji."

Neji smiled for a moment, but it disappeared quickly. "Listen, Hinata, we need to talk."

Her brow furrowed as he spoke. She gave him a wary look. "Sure, talk."

Neji glanced around at the rest of the people meandering around the assembly hall. Naruto had challenged Konohamaru to a pick-up game of ping-pong while Shikamaru was in the corner looking sorely dejected as he played chess against Ino. Apparently he had lost Temari as a sparring partner. Out of the window she could see Gaara talking to Sasuke and Ginny, who was laughing loudly at some sort of joke. Or maybe she was just laughing. Ginny was fun, but awful odd.

Hinata got the drift as she walked out of the assembly hall. Neji stopped in the clearing behind the building, between the line of forest and the hard brick wall of the center. Hinata leaned up against the wall and propped a foot up. She looked at Neji carefully as she played with the hem of her pink t-shirt.

"Okay, Neji, what's up?"

Neji didn't speak for a moment. "This boy you're always seen around . . . what's his name?"

Oh. Neji was being the responsible older brother type figure. Well, it was nice to be cared about, even if it was annoying in this instance.

"His name's Gaara," Hinata said carefully, "and he's very nice. I think that you two would get along." Outright lie, but Hinata was desperate.

Neji's clear eyes were cold as he glanced back at her. "I thought so."

Hinata clenched her teeth. "Are you judging him? You don't even know him! He's not a bad person!"

"I know his record, Hinata, and most of it isn't clean! I don't want you seeing him!" Neji's eyes were fiercely bright, but for once in her life, she knew that she had to stand up to Neji. She had to do what she wanted for once, instead of always falling back and being the obedient little girl that everyone wanted to be.

Why did everyone treat Gaara so badly? He was a nice guy, and the first one to see through her façade in a long time. She didn't want to ruin a good thing only one day after it began. They had only been together for little over twenty-four hours! Why did everyone want to break them apart so quickly? They may have had good intentions, but that doesn't excuse their judgment of someone that they barely even know. Hinata didn't know the details, but she didn't need to. Gaara was a good person. She accepted that at face value. Despite her curiosity, she didn't need to look deeper. She knew that she would come to the same conclusion even after she heard everything about his past. She would still know that Gaara was a good person.

Why couldn't anyone else see that?

First it was Sakura, now it was Neji. Was there nothing but opposition to their relationship? No matter how Hinata looked at it, this wasn't going to be easy. She knew that before she even accepted Gaara's hesitant question of "will you go out with me?" But did it have to be this hard?

"No." Her voice was like ice.

"No?" Neji seemed surprised by her defiance.

"No. I won't leave Gaara just because you tell me to. I think that he's a good person. And I don't care what you and the rest of them say."

"You haven't heard the things I have!" Neji insisted.

"All that and more, Nej," she said softly. "But I still remain by my decision. I won't change it. Give it time, Neji. Then you can see the Gaara that I see. You'll see that he's not the person that everyone says he is. Naruto knows it. Ginny and Sasuke know it. He's not that person. He's just been a victim of harmful gossip." Hinata paused. "You know about that."

Neji stiffened. Hinata was hitting close to home. Neji didn't have an easy high school experience. No, that was an understatement. Neji's high school life had been hell. He had been teased about his long hair and being the only boy flute in the entire marching band. By the time that he hit sophomore year, everyone insisted that he was gay. He survived it, but he was bullied. Hinata could always tell when he came home from school. She was only in middle school back then, but she could still tell. Eventually, his junior year, he became drum major and finally earned some respect, but Hinata knew that it wasn't until his college days that he was truly free from the teasing.

Neji shook his head. "This isn't about that. I don't want you to get hurt, Hinata. And if I have to drag you away from this Gaara to make sure of it, I will. I won't let you get hurt again."

"I'm not a doll, Neji! I won't break!"

Neji's hand flashed out and grabbed Hinata's braceleted wrist. He squeezed tightly. "Are you sure about that, Hinata? Are you really sure about that?"

Hinata's eyes widened and were unnaturally bright, but she said nothing.

"I saved you back then. I'm trying to save you now. But I need you to listen to me. Two years ago, you didn't have the best judgment. And I don't think that you have clear judgment now. I don't want you to get hurt."

"No," Hinata said softly. "I won't." Her voice seemed to be on the brink of tears.

"Hinata, I saved you. I need you to do this for me. I don't ever want to see you like that again. You are fragile. You are, no matter what you say about it. I remember that day, do you?"

Hinata slapped Neji hard across the face. She didn't know where her strength came from, but suddenly, it disappeared and she was overrun with tears. Hinata ran like no other away from Neji. Vaguely, she could hear Neji punch the wall behind her.

Why did he have to remind her? She would never forget.

* * *

_All the blood. Why is there so much blood? Oh, yeah, the blade. But there's so much. Is this . . . it? Really it? I can feel the water. I can feel it running down my back. Rain? No . . . why is the rain red? Oh, I remember now._

_Blood. _

* * *

**A/N: Next chapter's in the viewpoint of Sasuke. Brotherly affection with ensue (NOT!) **

**See you on April 4th! That's when the hiatus ends!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: It's been over four months. I know that I have to say that anyone who's still with me after all this time deserves a medal. Because, in all honesty, I kept you waiting a long time. **

**Currently in this story, it's Friday night of the first week of band camp. They're almost halfway there and most of the main couples have been established. **

**Okay, I should probably mention that my update schedule is shot. I have exams coming up as well as my job starting up. So, I'll update when I can, since I'm super busy. I hope that all of you understand. So . . . I'm not exactly sure when the next update will be, but I think that this story will be finished by the end of 2013. **

**Bonus Cookies for anyone who gets that chapter title reference. **

**Read, Review and Enjoy!**

**~Shard of Freedom**

* * *

Chapter Seventeen 

Can't Repeat the Past? Why, Of Course You Can!

_I feel abandoned. _

_I feel alone. _

_I feel empty. I feel washed up. I feel half-dead on my feet. I feel like I'm underwater and I'm waiting to drown. I'm waiting to slip into unconsciousness so that I don't have to feel myself suffocate. So that I don't have to feel the lingering sensation of my death._

_But I'm not dying, and my father would most likely say that I'm being melodramatic and unrealistic. _

_But how are you supposed to feel when the world has crashing down at your feet, shattering into thousands of fragments that you aren't sure how to fit back into a whole? _

_-from a journey entry of Sasuke Uchiha, lost in the back of his desk three years ago._

* * *

Sasuke was pretty good at playing assassin. If you wanted to split hairs, you could say that he was excellent at playing assassin. It was his ninth target since the game had started, and he ended it quickly and painlessly.

The game was a simple concept. You go around searching for the person whose name you had, held up and finger gun and stated "Bang, you're dead." There couldn't be any witnesses or you yourself would die instead of the victim. The last one standing wins.

Sasuke understood this game. It was simple, and he liked things clear-cut. That meant that they had a logical objective and a logical ending.

Unlike the mess that his life was becoming.

First Naruto, then Sai. Did nothing make sense anymore? He had told his friends that he was gay, a secret he'd been shoving quite literally in the closet for over four years. He reached out to Naruto and kissed him, only to ignore him for days after.

What was going on with his mind? Why was he so confused?

These days, he felt like getting Ginny to paint "Example of Teenage Angst" on his forehead in big red letters.

Sasuke sighed as he leaned up against the tree. It was after afternoon block, around 4:30. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke could see the lake where he and Naruto shared their first kiss . . .

Sasuke leaned back and hit his head on the tree hard.

Has the entire world gone insane?

What the hell was he doing?

He . . . he had liked Naruto for a long time. They were friends, they were close, and Sasuke wasn't about to lie to himself and say that the attraction of his blonde friend hadn't crossed his mind. Unlike Sasuke, it was always pretty obvious that Naruto was gay. He didn't hide it—when a girl asked him out, he would straight up tell them that he didn't exactly play for their team. Sasuke was more closed up about his preferences . . .

Did he have preferences? Was he supposed to know? And even if there was that attraction, what the hell was love anyway? And how in the world was Sasuke supposed to know any of this shit?

He was eighteen years old.

He was not supposed to be this emotionally conflicted.

That was it. He was going to find Ginny and get her to write on his forehead. "Example of Teenage Angst," here he comes.

Sasuke fixed his black eyes on the sky.

* * *

Naruto put up with him.

Back when there were in middle school, Sasuke supposed that that was the first inkling of attraction that he saw. It wasn't anything major, it wasn't some great epiphany; one day, Sasuke looked over at Naruto in seventh grade and realized that Naruto put up with everything that Sasuke threw at him.

Naruto put up with the attitude and the half-comments and the blank stares and the emotional rollercoaster that was Sasuke trying to communicate with other people.

Naruto sat by and laughed at the comments that no one else understood, simply because Sasuke had a different brand of humor. Naruto hung out and understood the way the Sasuke talked without words, the subtle glances and grunts that made up communication. More than once, he acted as a translator, a buffer, a connection between Sasuke and the outside world.

Most of all Naruto put up with his attitude.

At that point, Sasuke didn't know what to think about himself. He had never been attracted to anyone, despite the fact that his hormones should have been raging. Middle school was the beginning of dances and "who's dating who" but someone apparently forgot to tell Sasuke. He sat by and looked at girls who crushed on guys and boys who watched girls in hallways and wondered what that felt like, because he truly just didn't understand.

On a rare occasion he would admire a person, but that didn't mean anything in the long run because he couldn't look at a person and feel that attraction.

By seventh grade, he was firm in the knowledge that he was asexual.

. . . It didn't really bother him.

Nothing much did bother him. He had grades to worry about, a family life that was steadily running to pieces, even then, although his mother tried to salvage what she could. The ice was in their home—it had been even since Sai had gotten into high school. Sasuke knew that Sai was fask-tracking out of high school—anything to get away from a family life where he wasn't wanted.

So, in junior high, dating wasn't really the most prevalent thing on his mind. He observed the mundane lives of the people around him, so it didn't really surprise Sasuke when Naruto decided that he was gay. Sasuke just glanced over lazily and said "Took you long enough to figure that out." Because let's face it, Naruto was about as bright as a rock.

It came as a pretty big shock to Sasuke when he glanced over at Naruto and realized that out of all his contemplation of human interaction, all of his scenarios to see if he was actually compatible with anyone—he could see himself actually being with Naruto.

It wasn't anything like love, but Sasuke could imagine it without the need to hurl.

He could imagine him and Naruto on a date, he could think of them as being closer than just friends. He could see it, and that was a hell of a lot more than what he could imagine with other people. With anyone actually. Mainly because he couldn't see them accepting the real him, the darker sides that weren't as pretty as his face .

Because despite their longings, no girl really wants a bad boy who is truly bad underneath it all. There was not that brighter lighting to Sasuke's character. He was what he was, and if you were looking for a better side of him underneath, you were setting yourself up for disappointment.

But Naruto put up with him. Naruto put up with all of him.

And Sasuke could see it. He could imagine a relationship.

Did that make him gay? Maybe. Sasuke liked labels. It made little boxes for the world to be organized, but the one thing that he couldn't organize was himself.

Was there a box in his mind for being "Naruto-sexual?"

Maybe there was; maybe there wasn't.

But Sasuke understood one thing.

Naruto put up with all of his crap.

And that was more than anyone else.

* * *

There was a cracking of a twig that pulled Sasuke out of his musing. He opened one dark eye.

"Oh, it's you."

Sai sat down across from him in the forest, leaning against a separate tree and placing his elbows on his knees. "Don't sound so excited to see me, little brother, you might hurt yourself."

Sasuke opened both eyes and placed his hands behind his head. "Believe me, I'm ecstatic. Can't you tell?"

"I know that you've been avoiding me. I've been told that we should probably figure things out."

"By Sakura, right? Your new girlfriend?"

Sai stiffened before giving Sasuke one of his trademark smiles that showed absolutely nothing. Sasuke scoffed internally. They had stopped working on him when Sasuke was five.

"We haven't put a label on it yet. And, since we're on the topic, how's your old friend, Naruto doing?"

"Low blow, Sai, low blow." Sasuke sighed. "We'll make a deal. You don't talk about Naruto, I don't talk about Sakura. Got it?"

"Alright, anything for you." Sai tilted his head once more.

Sasuke beat down the urge to slug him. It wasn't Sai's fault really once Sasuke really thought about it. Sasuke had known for a very, very long time that Sai had wanted to get out of their family situation. Sai had always been the odd older son while Sasuke was the good child. Sai had different habits. He preferred art to sports, reading to going outside and playing. Their parents simply didn't understood how to deal with Sai. They tried, but it was stony silence.

When Sai entered high school and joined the guard, a cool wind in the family home solidified into ice. Very, very cold ice. There was no salvaging the broken shards of the relationship between Sai and their parents, but Sasuke and Sai had always been close.

"Had" being the prominent word in that sentence.

The silence stretched for a while. Sasuke wasn't sure if he was supposed to break the silence, because if he did it would probably be in the form of an angry rant. Luckily, the decision was taken out of his hands by Sai's soft voice cutting through the heavy air.

"It was bad, wasn't it?"

Sasuke skewered his brother with a glare. "No, I missed school for a week and lost the best friend that I've ever had for the fun of it. Of course it was bad. You fought, you left, and I was the only one there to pick up the pieces. And guess what happened? I got sucked into the black hole that is our father."

"What happened after I left?" Sai's voice was soft and he wouldn't meet Sasuke's eyes, but that didn't mean that Sasuke wasn't still angry.

It didn't matter that it might not be Sai's fault. He was the only one who knew, who understood, who Sasuke to say all of this to without the thought that he had to explain all of it. Sai knew how their family was. He knew how his father was. There was no need for Sasuke to go a long rant of "how and what and why." He just needed to say how he felt.

Because Sai was still his brother. And Sai would still understand.

Sasuke looked away from Sai's face. He couldn't say what he wanted to if he was looking at his brother's face. Because, if he did, he would waver, lose faith, believe that maybe, just maybe, Sai was under just as bad of a cloud as he was and that the resentment that he had been harboring was nothing more than the selfish musing of a child.

"You know how Father is. You knew how he was before you left. I mean, he didn't make any effort to hide it. And . . . and you knew about me to. Maybe not the whole story or the complete picture, but you knew the basic concepts. Don't even try to deny it. You're observant, you watch people. Even if I wasn't fully . . . gay . . . you knew that at the very least I liked Naruto. I mean, it wasn't like I was trying to hide it . . ."

Sasuke didn't finished everything that he wanted to say because he glanced over at Sai just then, and words escaped him. Sasuke didn't speak much but he prided himself on always knowing what to say. These moments of awkward silence, where he felt like the carpet had been ripped out from underneath his feet, left him feeling more alone than ever.

Sai didn't speak for a while after Sasuke's hesitant outburst. Sai watched his little brother like Sasuke was going to break, like he was something fragile.

Sasuke glanced over at Sai. "Don't look at me like I'm delicate. That's one thing that I'm not."

"I know. I was just thinking about how bad things have gotten since I was gone."

"Bad? That's an understatement."

Sai leaned forward and looked at his brother with fierce eyes, the most emotion that he had shown at all during their conversation.

"But I'll have you know this, little brother—there is no way in hell that I'm going back."

Sasuke snorted. "Believe me, I knew that."

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was short, but the next one is a lot longer, so it'll be made up . . . again, I'm not sure when the next chapter will be coming out, but it should be sometime in April. **

**The next chapter is in the view of . . . a lot of people, actually. Temari, Shikamaru, Gaara, Hinata, and Ginny all take a whack at the next chapter . . . Like I said, longer than normal . . . **

**See you soon!**

**~Shard of Freedom**


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